Risen Legends
by Kang of Dragons
Summary: Sequel to Naruto & Gohan: Legends will Rise. Read that story first otherwise it won't make sense. Naruto has returned from his training trip. The Order and the Akatsuki are both making their moves, going after the jinchuuriki, especially Naruto.
1. Homecoming

**Chapter 1: Homecoming**

Sasuke Uchiha, one of Konoha's strongest jonin, being able to fight at levels above even the Hokage Tsunade Senju. He had mysteriously disappeared three years before and had returned a week ago, just in time for the jonin exams. He was smarter, faster, stronger, and overall better than every other candidate by leagues.

He was now sitting in the jonin lounge with his old sensei, Kakashi Hatake, another of the strongest jonin that Konoha had.

Sasuke's hair hadn't changed much since three years ago, though his outfit had. He now wore a light purple sleeved shirt with black pants and a black cloak above it all, with two katana on the right side of his waist. Kakashi, well he looked the exact same.

"SASUKE UCHIHA!" A female voice resounded through the room where the two were sitting.

"Shit…" Sasuke muttered, he had been avoiding her, he hadn't told her when he left and was a little scared to see her, he hadn't parted on amazing terms per say. Sasuke got up and went to the window, opening it just as his teammate barged into the room.

"Sit." She said sternly. Sakura had grown, three years had done her well in Sasuke's eyes, she was more curved and had toned her body much more. Her pink hair cascaded down to her mid-back and she was wearing a red top with a white circular design on the back, and a pair of black shorts. She also had her forehead protector holding up her bacngs and a pair of black gloves with a barely visible sealing matrix on the wrist.

Sasuke complied with her order, he could tell that she hadn't slacked with her training, from what he could sense she probably trained harder than he had.

"What were you thinking?" She asked.

Sasuke tilted his head questioningly, he figured playing dumb would be a better option. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kakashi slip out the open window with a wave. Sakura either didn't notice or didn't care. Probably the latter.

"Don't play stupid Uchiha." She cracked her knuckles, "You left for three years, THREE DAMNED YEARS, without saying anything." He could see tears forming in her eyes and felt a pang of guilt.

"I…" He started, but Sakura wasn't done.

"You put me under a Genjutsu, nearly killed Hiro, then just left!"

"You were mad." He said as if it explained everything.

"And now I'm pissed." She said, the little droplets that were forming in her eyes were now running down her cheeks.

"I… I'm sorry." Sasuke said, "I'll apologise to Hiro too."

"Don't bother, he's gone." Sakura said, storming off.

' _Not something to talk about.'_ He noted, getting up and walking after her.

 **LINEBREAK**

Naruto Uzumaki was excited, he was finally going home after three years. He too had grown. No longer fitting into any of the clothes that he had brought with him Naruto now wore an orange and black jacket with orange pants. His black forehead protector taking it's place upon his forehead.

Jiraiya walked behind him, writing notes with grinning and giggling perversely.

"Hey Ero-sennin, I'll meet you there." Naruto said. Jiraiya waved him away and Naruto disappeared in a burst of speed, reappearing next to the Konoha village gates.

"Naruto?" Kotetsu asked.

"Yup, it's me." Naruto said with a large grin. "Been awhile huh?"

"You're telling me." Kotetsu laughed, "Hey Izumo, Naruto's back."

Izumo, who was watching the entire time called back, "Yea, I can see that. How ya doing kid?"

Naruto smirked, "I've been good."

The two guards then let him through the gate and Naruto walked into the village, his grin nearly splitting his face.

He immediately jumped onto a nearby roof, noticing Kakashi climbing through a window before using Shunshin to disappear. Naruto shook his head and followed after his adopted brother with his own shunshin, finding him walking through the village streets.

"Yo! Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto called out.

Kakashi spun around and saw Naruto.

"Yo." He waved, "Been a while."

"Tell me about it." Naruto grinned.

"Get any stronger?"

Naruto just stood there, a white aura radiating off of him.

"I guess so." Kakashi was shocked, even though he himself had trained with the Saiyans and Piccolo for the past three years Naruto was near his level, if not above it. "There'll be a team meeting tomorrow at training ground 7." The jonin said, "I expect you there."

"No worries Kakashi-sensei, I'll be there." Naruto smiled, "So where's everyone else?"

Kakashi shrugged, "Sasuke and Sakura were in the jonin lounge, Gohan is due back tonight with Shikamaru, Videl, and Goten. Other than that it's anyone's guess where the rest of your friends are."

Naruto nodded, "Thanks Kakashi-sensei, I'll go find Sasuke and Sakura first I guess." He then took off in a blur.

Kakashi shook his head, "To think, seven years ago he was just a kid that everyone looked down upon." The jonin continued his walk, thinking back to when Naruto was young.

Naruto stood on the Hokage Tower, searching for Sakura or Sasuke's ki signatures, but was coming up blank. He decided to pop in and see Tsunade for a bit, it had been a while since he had seen her after all. He swung down to the window and noticed it was already open.

"He's grown a lot." Jiraiya told the blonde woman, "But I don't think it's enough to stop a member of The Order yet. Not unless he can use the Super Saiyan transformation at will, which may take a while from what I learned from Trunks and Minato."

Tsunade nodded, "Kakashi told me that you two were nearby about an hour ago, I set up a spar between Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura against Gohan for tomorrow in training ground 7. I'll be able to see how far they've all come then."

"Hey Ero-sennin, Granny-Tsunade." Naruto flipped into the room through the window.

"Brat." Jiraiya grumbled.

Tsunade stood up and hugged him, "It's been too long Naruto." She said with a smile.

Naruto returned the hug without hesitation, "I agree."

Tsunade then held him at arm's length, taking in his appearance, "You do resemble your father." She said longingly, "But I can see Kushina in you too."

"It's almost uncanny how looking at him can remind you of both of them at the same time." Jiraiya agreed.

"So I've gotta fight Gohan tomorrow?"

Tsunade bonked Naruto on the head, "Don't eavesdrop." She said sternly, "But yes, you will be fighting Gohan tomorrow."

Naruto was both worried and excited. Gohan was immensely more powerful than he had been three years ago, and Naruto was sure that his Saiyan friend had trained just as hard, if not harder, than he had.

"This should be good." Jiraiya laughed.

"Gohan is going to murder you guys." The voice of Goten came from the now open door. Behind him stood Gohan, Videl, and Shikamaru.

Goten looked the same for the most part, just taller. He was wearing a long sleeved blue shirt and an orange gi.

Videl had let her hair grow out and was wearing them in pigtails. She was taller than when Naruto had last seen her and was beginning to develop as well. She was wearing a pink undershirt along with a white sleeveless shirt and black bicycle shorts.

Shikamaru was taller than before, being the tallest of the four standing in the doorway. He looked the same as before other than his height, but his eyes showed strength that didn't match that of a lazy Nara anymore. He also had a new outfit, wearing the standard jonin uniform, with his headband tied around his right bicep.

Gohan had changed a lot. He was tall, no longer the runt that had been slightly shorter than Naruto before. The blond was half a head shorter than Gohan now. The Saiyan had also cut his hair a bit, the spikes making it reminiscent of Naruto's own hair style. Gohan was wearing a black kimono top closed by an orange belt. He had black pants that had dark orange designs of the four star dragon ball. He had heavy black boots on with a glove on each hand, though the right glove covered the entirety of his arm. His headband was on the belt holding the kimono top closed.

"Goten, be nice." Gohan said. Walking in front of the group, "Mission went well. The Akatsuki members that were going after Gaara's group have been eliminated." He then pulled a large sealing scroll from his left glove, "One of them is in here. He didn't die. Even after I blasted him with a Kamehameha he regenerated." Gohan said, giving the large scroll to Tsunade.

"Good work. Dismissed." Tsunade said, "You too brat, get going." She told Naruto.

"Alright, by Granny, Ero-sennin!" Naruto called out as he dropped out the window.

Naruto went to the exit of the Hokage Tower and waited for Gohan's group to come down so he could say hi to his friends.

"NARUTO!" He heard Hanabi's voice and spun around to see his friend. She had changed quite a bit. Her indigo coloured hair was in a tall ponytail and still reached the bottom of her back. She was wearing a tight grey top that showed her assets off and a pair of tight black pants. Her forehead protector was on her left arm.

"Hanabi!" Naruto smiled widely, hugging his friend as she barreled into him.

"So, did you get any stronger?" She asked, stepping back to look him over.

Naruto smirked, "I got way stronger. What about you?"

Hanabi brushed the hair from her face, "I've been training pretty hard. Made Jonin last year with Sakura."

"Congrats." Naruto said, "I'll be sure to make Jonin whenever the next exams are."

"You just missed them." Hanabi said, "Sasuke was the only one to get promoted."

Gohan and his group exited the building at that moment.

"Hey guys!" Naruto smiled and waved.

"Hey Naruto." Videl said.

"Naruto." Shikamaru nodded.

"Naruto, you stronger yet?" Goten asked.

"Hey Naruto. How's it going?" Gohana asked.

Naruto looked at Goten, "I'm probably strong enough to take you out." He said.

"Ya right, I'd beat you without Super Saiyan." Goten laughed.

Naruto ignored him and turned to Gohan, "You've gotten tall."

The Saiyan laughed, "Ya, I guess I have."

"So Naruto, you ready for tomorrow?" Shikamaru asked.

"You know about it?" Naruto asked, "I thought it was a secret."

"A secret from you Sasuke and Sakura." Shikamaru said, "The rest of us are coming to watch."

"Why'd you tell him dummy?" Videl asked.

"He already knew." Shikamaru replied.

Naruto looked Gohan dead in the eyes, activating his Byakugan, "Long as he stays in his base we'll win." He said.

Gohan smirked, "You sure?" Naruto saw his heart speed up a little, excitement or fear?

"Hell ya." Naruto smiled.

Suddenly a large dust cloud erupted from the outskirts of the village. Naruto looked at his friends and they dashed away as a unit, Gohan and Naruto taking the lead.

 **LINEBREAK**

Sakura was pissed. First Sasuke avoided her the entire time she was back, even going as far as telling Kakashi that he wouldn't be attending the jonin exams unless she was gone. Then he goes and brings up Hiro -that bastard- and acts like nothing happened.

And to top it all off he wouldn't stop following her!

Finally Sakura had enough. For the past fifteen minutes he followed her silently, ignoring her curses and catching the kunai she tossed.

She spun around and dashed at him. This caught him off guard. Before he could react she was in front of him and had uppercutted him in the chin, sending him flying upwards.

Sakura followed him up with a huge leap, slamming him with earthshaking punch after earthshaking punch.

"What don't you understand about LEAVE ME ALONE!" She screamed as she cocked back her fist -that was glowing green- and threw it forwards.

Sasuke caught the fist effortlessly, his Sharingan spinning into existence. "I understand, I just don't believe you."

Sakura growled, "Fuck off Uchiha." She grabbed his wrist and threw him towards the village wall.

Sasuke was surprised, Sakura had grown extremely strong. While lost in his thoughts he noticed the wall behind him and shifted his course, going over the wall and crashing into the forest outside the village.

Sasuke stood up, brushing himself off. He sensed Sakura flying at him and braced himself. She appeared and slammed a fist into his guard, sending him skidding back.

He ducked as she kicked where his head had been, the force causing a tree that was a few yards away to splinter.

Sasuke then rolled as her heel shattered the ground where he had been. The force of the impact sent him flying back.

"Are you done?" He asked as she rushed forwards, he pushed away her punch and twisted her wrist behind her back. "Sakura?"

She growled and tried to pull her arm away, but Sasuke held tight.

"Sakura, are you done?" He asked again, noticing that she began tearing up at this.

"LET ME GO!" She screamed, breaking the dam that held her tears, letting them fall in a torrent of anguish. He let her wrist go and she fell to her knees.

"Saku…" Sasuke started. Sakura cut him off with a hug and a flurry of tears.

Sasuke was about to hug her back but a nearby explosion distracted him, it was right on the other side of the wall.

Sasuke grabbed Sakura by the shoulders, "We've gotta go!" He said.

She wiped away her tears and nodded, "We'll talk later." She said, but Sasuke was already out of earshot.

Sasuke landed on the wall after a large jump. He surveyed the area and saw a man with long blond hair in an akatsuki robe. The man was releasing clay creatures from mouths on his hands. The creatures would fly away and then detonate.

Sasuke landed behind the man silently and immediately jumped upwards, an explosion right beneath him.

Sasuke Sharingan spun as he activated them. He avoided a few clay birds that all hit the area he was in, creating an explosion that sent Sasuke towards the ground. He pushed himself away from a large clay creature that was awaiting him on the ground.

"Summoning jutsu!" Sasuke shouted, summoning a large black hawk with a small circle of white feathers forming on his chest, "Takarou, I need you to keep the flying things off me."

"Got it Sasuke." The hawk's voice had changed over the last three years, making him sound a little older. Takarou opened his beak and released a burst of wind that sent a dozen of the clay birds back, one of them conveniently hit another and they all exploded.

Sasuke landed on the ground and threw electric senbon at the clay creatures, disturbing the earth chakra in them and making them useless. He made his way to the akatsuki member and pulled out his green katana, the blade sparked with green lightning as he neared his target.

"That won't work Sasuke!" The man shouted, rushing towards Sasuke, only to be stopped by an earth wall courtesy of Sakura.

"I'll be the one kicking Sasuke's ass." She shouted from a top the wall. She leapt forwards, only to be stopped by a puppet appearing in front of her. She spun around it then kick off of it's back, shooting towards Sasuke's blond opponent and shattering the puppet.

The blond dodged by jumping backwards, a flurry of puppets covering his escape as they slammed into Sasuke and Sakura, who easily plowed through them.

They stopped and jumped back when a large bird flew from the sky and exploded, leaving a crater in it's wake.

"Sakura..." Sasuke started.

"Shut it." She growled, "We'll fight then we'll talk." She then rushed forwards, shattering puppets and dodging explosive creatures.

Sasuke jumped into the air, floating next to Takarou.

"Stick to the plan, make sure to cover Sakura. I'll go after the puppeteer." He told the bird.

"Gotcha." Takarou flew down, a cloak of wind around him as he sliced through the puppets that were around Sakura.

Sasuke darted around the battlefield, avoiding any enemies he could and burning those he couldn't to cinders.

"RASENGAN!" Naruto's voice cut through the air as he slammed a large blue sphere of condensed chakra into a puppet that was coming at Sasuke from behind. The construct shattered and Gohan appeared in front of a group of puppets and destroyed them all with a kiai wave.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked, "I didn't know you were back."

"Just got back about an hour ago." The blond responded, shattering a puppet with a ball of compressed wind.

A large explosion rocked the area and Sakura's body flew into the air, a trail of smoke following.

Sasuke jumped into the air, catching her and looking around for Takarou, the hawk was in a dome of wind and seemed unharmed.

"Sasuke, I wasn't fast enough. I'm sorry." The bird chirped as he flew towards his summoner.

"Don't worry, she's alive." He said, "Fly her to the hospital, it should be easy to find." He said, "I'll take care of the explosion user."

"No, I will." Sakura groaned, pushing herself out of Sasuke's arms and cracking her knuckles, "He caught me off guard but I'm fine." She then flew towards the man.

"Deidara, move!" A voice called out, the blond jumped just as Sakura slammed her fist into the dirt beneath him, creating a large crater.

"That's some power, it's almost an art." Deidara called out as he released a swarm of explosive bats towards Sakura.

"Wind Drill!" Takarou shouted, flapping his wings and expelling compressed wind in the shape of a drill towards the bats, causing them to explode harmlessly mid-air.

Sakura jumped upwards and cocker her fist, "Jade Burst!" She shouted, her hand covered in emerald green ki. She punched forwards and released a large blast that encompassed the entirety of Deidara, vaporising the man.

Sasuke ran through the puppets, leaving Naruto, Gohan, Goten, Shikamaru, Videl, and Hanabi to deal with the seemingly endless supply of them while he went for the puppeteer.

He dodged a large needle that looked to be made of metal shavings and blocked another with his green katana. He ducked under a flurry of shuriken made from those same shavings. He looked around, his Sharingan spinning and looking for the source of the projectiles.

Then he saw it, a puppet with a grey cloak and one large clawed hand. It's mouth opened and created the metal shavings, forming them into shuriken once more it fired.

Sasuke blasted a burst of ki forwards, destroying the puppet and causing a hulking figure wearing a hooded Akatsuki robe to rush forwards, a steel tail flying at Sasuke's face. The Uchiha cut the tail in half and released a burst of green electricity from his sword, which shattered the man in the robe. The man turned out to be a puppet shell that was covering a teenage boy with red hair and a blank look on his face.

"Sasuke Uchiha. Itachi has told me much about you." The boy said, "I am Sasori. I promised your brother that I'd do my best to spare you so he could kill you himself. I offer you to stand down and give me Naruto Uzumaki."

"As if you could take the dobe." Sasuke grunted, "Even if I took you up on your offer that is." Sasuke closed the distance with a burst of speed.

The next thing Sasori knew his head was no longer attached to his body, no, he had no body left.

' _So this is what death is like…'_ Was the last thought Sasori had as his consciousness faded.

 **LINEBREAK**

 _I hope you guys liked it. It feels good to write again after having no energy or drive to do it for a while. Next chapter will have Gohan against Team 7. It'll also have the rest of the teams appear and The Order may or may not make a special appearance._

 _Anyways updates will be either weekly or biweekly depending on my workload. I'll still respond to all of my reviews and PMs as soon as I see them._

 **THANKS FOR READING :D**


	2. Clash

**Chapter 2: Clash!**

As soon as Sasori was defeated the puppet army stopped moving and crashed to the ground. Sakura walked to Naruto and wrapped him in a hug which he returned.

"It's been a while." She smiled.

"Too long." Naruto responded.

Sasuke walked towards Naruto, Takarou flying above him, "Dobe."

"Teme." Naruto responded with a grin.

Sasuke nodded and walked off silently.

"Naruto, we'll catch up later, "I've gotta kick that bastard's ass." Sakura said, running towards Sasuke, who hopped onto Takarou's back and flew off.

Naruto shook his head.

* * *

Naruto woke up the next day early, he would need to be prepared if he was going to fight Gohan. He hoped that Sakura and Sasuke had made up, it would make the coming fight a lot easier if they could work together.

He woke up and opened his closet. His new outfit from Jiraiya was hung up, beside another outfit he hadn't seen before. It was an orange kimono top with a pair of loose fitting black pants. There was a black haori that was closed with a red belt. There were also black sandals and black armored bracers with a red string to keep them tight. Naruto smirked and decided on that outfit.

* * *

Sasuke woke up feeling a weight on his chest. He opened his eyes groggily, last thing he remembered was Sakura punching him in the head, then dragging him to a bar. He looked down and saw aqua blue hair. It was familiar but at the same time he couldn't place it.

Since whoever it was was sleeping Sasuke decided that he would leave without waking her. He swapped places with a large pillow effortlessly, taking a shower and dressing in his purple shirt and loose black pants. He threw his black cloak on and strapped both his swords to his side. He looked at his bed, the blunette was still sleeping soundly so he decided to just leave, everything of value was sealed anyways.

* * *

Sakura woke up with a headache, of course. She had drank way too much last night. She groggily healed her hangover with a medical jutsu Tsunade had taught her and got up. She showered and picked out an outfit. She slipped on a red tank top and a pair of tight black pants. She attached her medical pouch to her hip opposite her kunai pouch. To top her outfit off she slipped on the gloves that Gohan had made for her. They appeared as normal black gloves but upon closer inspection there was a sealing matrix. When unsealed the gloves would turn into gauntlets made out of katchin metal, the strongest metal in the universe.

* * *

Gohan looked at the clock. He really didn't want to fight against his teammates today. In the three years since Naruto left he hadn't had to hold back all that much, whether it was Piccolo or Vegeta, Gohan could always fight in Super Saiyan at least but against them he'd have to hold back a little. Gohan dressed and left his house, this wouldn't take too long. Hopefully.

* * *

Naruto stood facing Gohan. He had both his hands at his side and looked calm. To his left Sakura was bouncing on her toes with her hands up in a boxing stance. Sasuke stood to his right, his red katana in hand and Sharingan idly spinning.

Gohan stood in the demon style stance. He was looking between the three, apparently they already had a plan, it would make this a little more fun at least.

Naruto nodded, Sasuke dashed forwards, a wide slash with his katana that Gohan easily avoided. As Gohan stepped back Sakura slammed a fist into his back, sending the Demi-saiyan stumbling forwards.

Naruto appeared in front of Gohan, appearing slightly different. His eyes were yellow with a sideways black slit as the pupil. He also had orange coloration around his eyes.

"Rasengan." Naruto called out his attack, slamming the blue ball of chakra into Gohan and sending him flying backwards.

When Gohan landed he saw Sakura was standing back now, with Naruto and Sasuke rushing him. Gohan deflected Sasuke's katana with one arm and used the other to send a kiai burst at Naruto, sending the blond back.

"Wow, Gohan's actually not suppressed." Goten said from the crowd. All of the rookies had gathered except for Tempest, Hinata, Lee, Shino, and Suigetsu. Tsunade, Jiraiya, and the sensei's of all the gathered teams were there as well.

"If he was suppressing himself he'd lose." Jiraiya said, "Naruto managed to perfect Sage Mode in the three years we were gone." The man beamed proudly.

"That's amazing." Kakashi said, his adopted brother was easily ahead of him now and he was unsure of how to feel.

Sakura snapped her eyes open, they were now a pure blue in color and she had an arc from the tip of each eye to her cheek and had a diagonal half circle with a dot in the center of her forehead.

Sasuke backed off and let Sakura take his place in the fight.

"Is that the Slug Sage Mode?" Jiraiya asked Tsunade, who was wearing a large smirk, "Yup."

Goten could feel Gohan straining once Sakura joined the fray, if Sasuke had this same power-up than Gohan would have to transform to keep up.

Trunks was speechless. He hadn't thought much of Team 7 apart from Gohan, pegging them for a bunch of weaklings but they were each near Gohan's power with these transformations.

Naruto kicked Gohan in the chin, sending him upwards. Sakura slammed a fist onto Gohan's loosely formed guard, sending him careening back down to the ground, where Sasuke awaited

The Uchiha had sprouted two large black wings. He had a red jewel on his forehead as well.

"Chidori Stream!" He called out, creating a ball of lightning in his hand and holding it to the ground, creating a dome that Gohan slammed into, sending sparks arcing through his body.

As Gohan bounced off he slammed his shin into Naruto's stomach, sending the charging blond flying. He then rolled away from Sakura's earth shattering punch and powered up to Super Saiyan.

"You guys improved a lot more than I though you would have." Gohan smirked, appearing behind the group in less than a blink, "So I'll take it easy in this form." He then lashed out with a flurry of powerful attacks, a kick blocked by Sakura -but still sent her back a little- a punch that Sasuke avoided and a headbutt that Naruto reciprocated in kind, their forehead protectors meeting.

Naruto then surprised Gohan by sending a kiai wave into his stomach, the Super Saiyan flew through nearly fifty yards of trees from the blow.

Naruto jumped back and created three Shadow Clones.

"Sasuke, Pinton is our best bet. Sakura can you handle Taijutsu?" Naruto called out. Both his teammates nodded, "I'll use some jutsu to try and get him to slip up." The blond activated his Byakugan, which made his eyes fully orange and kept the pupil slit.

Sasuke blurred away, meeting the blur that was Gohan halfway in a clash that created a huge shockwave. Sakura jumped into the air with a shout, slamming a fist into Gohan's arm and creating a crater underneath her friend.

Sasuke attacked Gohan from behind, but the Saiyan anticipated the attack and substituted with a log, slamming a knee into Sakura's stomach with the surprise movement.

"Raiton: Thunder Emperor's Claw!" Gohan shouted, a large claw of electricity appearing in his hand. He slashed Sasuke's chest, knocking the Uchiha back.

"Suiton: Liquid Arrows! Fuuton: Vacuum Sphere Volley! Hyoton: Swallow Snowstorm!" Three versions of Naruto called out at once. The three attacks coming from a triangular position around Gohan.

Gohan charged up as much chakra as he could, performing hand seals at the same time, "Katon: Immolation Sphere!" He shouted, a white hot sphere of fire appeared around him. The ice melted, the wind jutsu merely boosted the fire jutsu's power and the water jutsu evaporated from the heat.

When the dust cleared Gohan was gone.

Sasuke reacted first, jumping into the air with a beat of his wings, sending a flurry of razor sharp feathers at Gohan, but they were given zero attention as a mere glare from Gohan caused them to fly away from him. Gohan continued on towards Sakura.

"Might as well take out the toughest now." Gohan said as he uppercutted her in the gut, sending her up into the air, "Multi-form!" He shouted, creating a clone of himself that flew up to engage Sakura in air combat. The real Gohan threw three kunai into the trees with immense power, resulting in three popping noises and plumes of smoke.

Sasuke rushed Gohan once more, as did Naruto. Both came at him from opposite direction.

"Chidori!"

"Rasengan!"

Gohan clutched both hands into fists, blue energy surrounding them, "Dragon Fist!" Gohan shouted, slamming a fist into both of the powerful jutsu, creating a large explosion.

Naruto and Sasuke were both back in their base forms, laying on the ground nearly unconscious.

Sakura was still fighting the clone of Gohan when it suddenly disappeared, Gohan having taken it back into his body.

Gohan flew towards Sakura and chopped the back of her neck, knocking her back into her base and sending her falling to the ground. He caught her and set her down gently.

Gohan powered down and let out a long breath, "They're strong." He said to Tsunade, "Really strong. Sakura's got the highest power level when they're all in the transformed state but I believe that Sasuke and Naruto are still stronger. Just based on their skill and chakra pools." He said, "I'd put their base around half my suppressed state."

"That's pretty impressive." Kakashi had no clue that those three had grown so much so quickly, even Sakura had surpassed him at this point.

Tsunade had smirk on her face, as did Jiraiya.

"So I guess we're as good as teachers as the Legendary Hawk Sage himself, eh Tsunade-hime." Jiraiya said as his smirk widened, "Mind you Naruto was trained by Fukasaku-sama in Sage Mode."

"And Sakura was trained by Katsuyu." Tsunade said, "Apparently She's been chosen by the Slug clan for an upcoming battle."

"Same as Naruto, but for toads of course." Jiraiya said, "And Gamamaru said the hawks, tigers, and snakes have all chosen champions of their own."

"Sasuke has the Hawk contract, so I guess that's him." Kakashi said, "Anko is the only one I know of with the snake contract since Orochimaru died but I somehow doubt it's her. And the tigers have been gone as long as the hawks, if not longer."

"The only unknown is the Snake clan actually, the Tiger clan's leader Puralis has already told Gamamaru and the other clan heads that their chosen is Gohan." Jiraiya said, "I'm surprised that he hasn't been recruited already."

"Sasuke had to try the summoning jutsu before he was told about him being chosen." Kakashi said, recalling the training that the Uchiha had done with Itachi, "I guess the same goes for Gohan."

"I'll try it another time." Gohan said, "I'm too busy right now."

* * *

Rock Lee stalked through the brush. His target, one Kisame Hoshigaki. The Hokage had sent groups of the village's strongest to eliminate the Akatsuki threat.

Lee's group consisted of him,Hinata, Shino, and Suigetsu. Shino took charge of the group, being the best strategist and having a strong tracking ability while Hinata was the scout, using her Byakugan and incredible speed to spy on their enemies. Suigetsu and Lee covered the main offensive force for the team.

"Lee, keep away for now. Kisame is near a large body of water." Hinata said over the radio.

"I'll go in, I should be able to match him in Suiton." Suigetsu said.

"No." Shino responded, "We'll wait until there is an opportune moment or the target moves away from the water source.

Shino let a few dozen spiders loose from his sleeves. With a nod the spiders all moved around the clearing, spinning high tensile threads so thin that Kisame wouldn't notice until it was too late.

Hinata began to set rudimentary traps around the perimeter. They would serve to slow Kisame down at most.

The group surrounded the clearing where the swordsman was napping. According to Suigetsu it wasn't safe to attack even when Kisame was asleep due to his sword, Samehada, which was sentient.

It took twelve whole hours for Kisame to wake up. The group had constantly switched shifts to ensure that no one was tired for the fight that would ensue, after all, this would be a tough opponent for anyone to face.

Kisame stood up and stretched, a grin on his shark-like face, "Time to meet up with Itachi and go after Gyuki." He yawned, swinging Samehada onto his shoulder and leaving the clearing. He walked right into one of Shino's webs and tried to swat it away only for his hand to get stuck.

"What is this?" Kisame slashed the webs and continued on his way, only to set off a trap, forcing him to dodge a flurry of kunai.

"Suiton: Water Dragon Bullet!" A familiar voice came from Kisame's back. The swordsman slashed towards the jutsu, his blade absorbed the chakra and let the water splash down harmlessly.

"Nice try Suigetsu." Kisame said with a grin, "But you're no match for me."

"Not when I'm alone, but they teach teamwork in Konoha." Suigetsu responded with a grin of his own, "Or weren't you informed?"

"Leaf Great Whirlwind!" Lee appeared in front of Kisame, delivering a kick to the man's sternum sending him flying into the air, Lee sent him higher with a series of powerful kicks, "Primary Lotus!" The bandages around Lee's arms wrapped Kisame and the two spun towards the ground. Right before impact Lee jumped out of the way, leaving Kisame to take the full force of the attack.

"Careful, he's not done yet." Suigetsu warned. Lee nodded.

Kisame stood up, not a single mark on him, "What'd ya do that for brat?" He growled, "Now Imma have ta kill ya." Lee felt a fist in his stomach and then a tree break on his back. Kisame stalked towards him.

"Raiton: False Darkness!" Suigetsu shouted, crossing his twin blades, Kiba they were named, shooting a spear of lightning towards Kisame's back, "Don't forget about me!"

Kisame blocked the jutsu with Samehada and continued walking towards Lee, "I didn't, I'm dealing with the shark before I go after the goldfish." He responded.

Suigetsu rushed forwards, roaring. His twin blades slammed against Kisame's huge slab of scales, sparks flew. Kisame kicked Suigetsu away and quickly went through a few hand seals with his free hand,.

"Suiton: Water Shark Bullet" Kisame lazily threw his hand towards Suigetsu, sending a gigantic shark made of water towards him. Suigetsu grinned and became water himself, absorbing the shark.

"KAIMON! KYUMON! SEIMON!" Lee's skin became a bright red as his bloodflow more than tripled. He appeared in front of Kisame, throwing a kick that made his previous attacks look like child's play. Kisame flew towards a tree, crashing through it.

Lee was above Kisame's prone form, one leg stretched high in the air, "LEAF DROP!" Lee shouted, slamming down on Kisame's chest with his heel, shattering the earth under him.

Kisame stood up, his grin replaced with a scowl, chakra radiated off of him, saturating the air, "Suiton: Exploding Water Shock Wave!" A huge burst of water burst from the ground under Kisame.

"GOTCHA!" Suigetsu shouted, revealing himself to be the water Kisame had summoned, "Water Prison!" He shouted, trapping Kisame in a bubble of water, "Now Lee!"

Lee nodded, "SHOMON! TOMON! KAIOKEN!" Lee's power skyrocketed as the red aura overtook him, "Dynamic Entry!" The green clad chunin shouted, running and leaping towards Kisame, delivering a kick that shattered the man's rib cage and collarbones, sending him onto the ground unconscious.

Lee powered down and fell to his knees.

"Lee, are you alright?" Hinata asked, appearing next to him.

"I'm fine, just tired." He responded.

Shino appeared from the shadows, kikaichu flying from his sleeves onto Kisame, sucking him dry of any chakra he may have left.

"I suggest you let him go." A man with remarkable resemblance to Sasuke walked into view.

"Itachi Uchiha I presume?" Shino asked, stepping forwards.

"Aburame, I expect you to do the right thing here." Itachi said.

"I apologise Itachi, I am aware of your position however I have a mission to complete." Shino adjusted his glasses, "So I ask, step aside and allow us to leave. Or I will be forced to fight you. I'm sure Sasuke wouldn't be too happy to hear of your death."

* * *

 _I hope you guys liked it. If anyone has a cooler looking idea for Sasukeès Hawk Sage Mode let me know, because Ièm not too proud of the one I thought up._

 _Also, there is a new poll on my profile if you guys wanna check it out._

 **THANKS FOR READING :D**


	3. The Clan of Insects

**Chapter 3: The Clan of Insects**

Shino Aburame stood opposite one of the strongest members of Akatsuki, Itachi Uchiha. The missing-nin had a flee on sight in every bingo book and Tsunade had specifically said to leave if he were to show up.

Shino decided not to listen.

"You wouldn't be able to kill me Aburame, no matter how hard you try." Itachi said, not threatened in the least by Shino's threat."

Itachi's black and red cloak billowed around him, Shino adjusted his glasses.

The Uchiha shook his head, "So be it." A large fireball flew towards Shino as the Aburame raised a wall of water. Shino dodged a slash from a tanto and retaliated with a leg sweep, though it was easily evaded by the experienced missing-nin.

"I'll need the three of you to take Kisame's body and get out of here." Shino shouted, evading a second fireball.

"We won't leave you Shino!" Hinata shouted, running towards Itachi and lashing out with a flurry of palm strikes that were deflected without much difficulty.

"YOSH!" Lee appeared as Hinata backed off, a kick broke a few of Itachi's ribs as it struck. The green clad ninja fell to the floor immediately after, his eyes blank.

"LEE!" Hinata ran to check on him.

"Suiton: Mizurappa!" Suigetsu fired a stream of water towards Itachi, who blocked it with a wall of stone.

"Raiton: Thunderbolt" Itachi muttered, causing a bolt of lightning to fly from his outstretched finger towards Suigetsu, leaving the Hozuki clan member in a gelatinous state.

Shino was shocked, to say the least. He knew Itachi was powerful, but not strong enough to defeat Suigetsu and Lee without so much a second thought.

"Do you see now the futility of facing me?" Itachi walked towards Shino, his Sharingan spun, changing from the basic three tomoe into three curved black lines around a red pupil, "This is my Mangekyou Sharingan, the strongest ability at my disposal."

"Why are you telling me this?"

The Uchiha smiled, it was not an expression that looked good on his face, "I have a plan. This is a part of it."

Shino suddenly felt weak, his knees buckled.

"AIR PALM!" Itachi flew into a tree.

Hinata glared at the Uchiha, a deep indigo aura making her look more like a demon than the princess that she was. She held one arm out, "Itachi Uchiha, you will not leave here alive." The indigo aura pooled into her hand as a sphere, "Enchanted Lance!" She shouted, firing off the ball in the shape of a large spear.

The tree behind Itachi was engulfed in the explosion the attack caused. Itachi appeared behind Hinata, a blood red aura surrounding him, "You aren't the only one with the ability to use ki." A large red orb slammed into the Hyuga heiress' back, sending her to the ground a far distance away.

"Now, where were we Shino?" The Aburame was trying to stand, his head spinning from Itachi's mental assault.

Itachi landed a kick in Shino's ribs, knocking him to the floor.

"Shino you should have just left." Itachi shook his head, "I don't know your relationship with Sasuke, but I will let the four of you live, if not for Sasuke's sake then for the sake of the fYondaime's son." Itachi took Kisame by the collar and hefted the fish-man onto his shoulder before walking away.

* * *

"Lady Tsunade, I apologise, the capture mission of Kisame Hoshigaki has failed." Shin said with a bow, wincing as he did so.

"What went wrong?" Tsunade asked, according to Jiraiya's intel Lee alone would have been enough to deal with Kisame.

"We successfully took down the target without any difficulty, however as we were heading back we were interrupted by Itachi Uchiha. We attempted to reason with him, but it lead to a conflict. He easily dispatched us but allowed us to live, though the reason he did so was quite strange."

"What reason was this Shino?"

"He said that he let us live for the sake of the Yondaime's son." Shino said.

Tsunade's eyes widen, she knew Itachi was privilege to a lot of information as one-time captain of Team Ro but to think he had knowledge that Naruto was Minato's son.

"You did well." She told them, "Take a week off, all of you."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama." The team said in unison. Tsunade nodded and dismissed the team.

"Hear that Jiraiya?" She asked, the white haired sannin stepped out of the shadows with a smile.

"I already knew Itachi was aware of Naruto's heritage, after all, Itachi is one of the smartest men I know. If he wasn't told he would figure it out with a single glance at Naruto." The toad sage grinned.

* * *

"Hijutsu: Spider Webbing!" Shino shouted, spider webs coming from his sleeves and tying up two trees, "KAIOKEN!" a red aura surrounded him as he pulled him hands back, unrooting both massive trees and holding them in the air, using chakra to solidify the webs, he slammed them down and they shattered, splinters flying all around the training ground.

"GATSUGA!" Two twisters flew around and eviscerated all of the splinters, landing in front of Shino.

"Shino, you could've told us you were training, we woulda helped ya know." Kiba said, the three years had seen him grow taller and bulkier. He had switched his bulky coat for a form fitting black leather jacket and matching pants. Akamaru had grown too, now standing near Kiba's chest and was the length of a bear.

"I apologise Kiba, but I intend to train alone, to master my clan's abilities." Shino said, "The defeat we suffered at Itachi's hands was embarrassing."

"It's Itachi Uchiha man, the guy was strong enough to murder the entire Uchiha clan when he was our age, without ki." Kiba said, "And from what Hinata told me he can use ki better than all of us except the Saiyans."

"Which is why I'm training." Shino responded, "I won't be able to grow in ki usage much more, I feel that I'm nearing my limit so I've decided to master my clan jutsu."

"Let me help then, I've gotta train too and it's better to train together." Akamaru barked in agreement.

"Fine." Shino sighed and jumped back, knowing that Kiba would attack as soon as he agreed.

Kiba's kick sent up dirt as his heel impacted the ground. As Shino landed Akamaru barreled into him, sending him tumbling back.

"Tsuga!" Kiba became a twister and flew towards Shino's downed form.

"Hijutsu: Spider Webbing!" Shino released tendrils of webs from his sleeves, tying Kiba up and stopping the twister, pulling him down to the ground with a grunt.

Akamaru was using his own Tsuga, flying towards Shino. The Aburame leapt into the air to avoid it and fired down a ki blast, slamming the ninken into the ground.

Shino landed and dodged a punch from Kiba, who had broken free of the webbing.

"KAIOKEN!" Shino shouted, rushing forwards and slamming a knee into Kiba's stomach, following up with a spin kick to the Inuzuka's face, sending him crashing through the tree line.

Akamaru snarled but stayed put, knowing that attacking Shino was useless right now.

"I win Kiba." Shino said, adjusting his sunglasses and leaving the training ground, "You tried but weren't strong enough."

* * *

 _Sorry for the wait and short chapter, I'm trying to write while filtering at the same time and it's a little different than what I'm used to. Next chapter shouldn't take too long, probably next Wednesday, maybe even Tuesday depending on how tired I am from work this weekend._

 _Hope you guys liked it, next chapter will start a rather long arc, my equivalent of the Fourth Ninja War, except it's not going to be the end. It'll start with Jiraiya against Pein and will see the Snake clan reveal their chosen._

 **THANKS FOR READING :D**


	4. Jiraiya the Gallant - 1

**Chapter 4: Jiraiya the Gallant**

 **Part 1**

"Are you sure Jiraiya?" Tsunade was in her office with Jiraiya, the ANBU were all waiting outside and the privacy seals were activated.

"It needs to be done, Amegakure is the only village I haven't infiltrated to check for Akatsuki's whereabouts. And if the Order is as dangerous as we think it is, then we'll have to take care of Akatsuki before we can even think of fighting them." Jiraiya had a sad look on his face, "I'll come back, I promise."

"You'd better." Tsunade had tears forming in her eyes.

Jiraiya placed a hand on her head and smiled, "Don't worry Tsunade-hime, just bet against my life and I'll be fine." He joked.

"Don't be stupid Jiraiya." She said, ' _I've already lost Shizune, I can't lose you too. You're all I have left.'_

Jiraiya turned to leave through the window of the office, "I'll be back in two weeks at the most." He said, disappearing from sight.

"You'd better be." Tsunade said as her tears hit the floor.

* * *

"Ero-sennin, let me come." Naruto said, getting aggravated.

"You stay here." Jiraiya said, "I can't let you come. What if I'm right and the leader of Akatsuki is there?" He asked.

"All the better, if I use Sage Mode I'm stronger than you, we'll be able to beat anyone." Naruto said, his voice rising with his temper.

"Look, Naruto I know you wanna help, but I can't let you come. The Akatsuki is after you. You'll have a mission of your own while I'm gone."

"What mission is it?"

"You'll be going after Itachi Uchiha."

"But that's Sasuke's brother, he's on our side!"

"You'll be sent to kill Kisame Hoshigaki and bring Itachi back to Konoha." Jiraiya said, "Unfortunately Itachi may not comply as long as Akatsuki is around, which is why you'll be telling him that I'm fighting their leader."

"And if he doesn't believe me?"

"Then you'll have a fight on your hands, which is why Sasuke will be accompanying you, his Sharingan is the only thing that can break Itachi's Genjutsu, and even then it won't be easy."

"We'll bring him back then." Naruto said, "Who's going with you though?"

"No one." Jiraiya said, "I'll be going in alone."

"Bring Gohan with you! Or Goten and Trunks, even Videl is strong enough to help!"

"I'll be fine Naruto, stop worrying." Jiraiya said, clasping the boy's shoulder, "I'm not a sannin for my looks ya know." He bellowed.

Naruto smiled softly, "I guess not but…"

"But nothing boy." Jiraiya interrupted, "You've been given a mission and you'll complete it."

"What's my team?" Naruto asked.

"You, Sasuke, and two or three others of your choice. You're to go see Tsunade tomorrow morning." Jiraiya walked away, "Good luck."

Naruto watched the man walk into the sunset, the color fading, leaving him a shadow in the distance, "You too, Jiraiya-sensei!" Naruto called out.

* * *

Naruto stood in front of Tsunade, who's attempt at hiding her puffy red eyes was pitiful.

"Naruto Uzumaki reporting for duty Lady Tsunade. Jiraiya-sensei told me to meet you here." Naruto said.

"I asked him to." Tsunade responded.

"I've selected my team." Naruto said, "Sasuke Uchiha, Shino Aburame, Hanabi Hyuga, and Videl Satan."

"Interesting, I understand Sasuke but why the other three?"

"Well Shino was the captain of the squad that Itachi last encountered, Hanabi's Byakugan will give us three members with near immunity to Genjutsu, and Videl because she has some of the best Katon abilities of our generation." Naruto explained, "Plus it'll be nice for Hanabi to have another girl to talk to."

"It's a good decision. Have you told them yet?" Tsunade asked.

"Only Sasuke. I wanted to clear the others with you first."

Tsunade nodded, "Go tell them, you can leave tomorrow morning." She said.

"We'll leave at dusk, it'll save time. If we get back soon enough I'm going after Ero-sennin." Naruto said, "Any clue where Itachi was last sighted?"

Tsunade looked Naruto in the eyes and shook her head, "The encounter with Shino's squad ten days ago was the last report of the target. It can be assumed that Kisame and Itachi are travelling together though."

"May I bring Kiba Inuzuka as well, his tracking abilities are nearly unparalleled in the village."

"If it'll help I'll allow it." Tsunade said.

Naruto nodded in thanks and turned towards the door.

"No window today?" Tsunade asked as the teen was leaving.

"Not today Lady Tsunade," Naruto said, "I've got my serious face on."

* * *

Naruto stood in front of the team he had gathered. Sasuke was scowling more than usual, he didn't want to go after Itachi. Shino was tapping his foot nervously, Itachi was no joke. Hanabi stood uniform, Itachi had hurt Hinata and she wasn't about to let him get away with that. Videl and Kiba were acting normal.

"You've all been briefed, Shino it's your job to lead us to the area that you encountered. Kiba you and Akamaru come in after that, do your best to lead us to them. Once we find them we are to kill Kisame Hoshigaki and bring Itachi Uchiha to Konoha or eliminate him." Naruto commanded, not even flinching when Sasuke's eyes bored into him.

"I won't fight him." Sasuke said.

"Then stay here." Naruto shot back, anger barely held back.

Sasuke grunted and walked away.

"Sasuke, you coming is the only thing that might convince Itachi to come with us. If you don't come it'll definitely come to blows."

Sasuke glared at Naruto, "Fine." He said after a stare down that lasted a few minutes.

"Let's get going then." Naruto said, "Shino you're in lead." The Aburame nodded and took off, followed by the rest of the squad.

* * *

Jiraiya arrived at the border of Amegakure by the time that Naruto had met with Tsunade and instantly put himself under a high-level Henge jutsu and hid his ki away.

Jiraiya had become a man of average height with brown hair and eyes. He was wearing a typical traveller's outfit, brown cloth shirt and pants with a kasa hanging on his back. As he neared the village he slipped the hat onto his head to keep him dry, apparently the rumors were true, once Hanzo was usurped the rain hadn't stopped. The entire area surrounding the village was either mud or small lakes.

Jiraiya neared the village and was stopped by the gate guards. He showed them a trading document he had Tsunade write up.

"Where are your wears?" One of the guards questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Jiraiya pulled out a storage scroll, "I bought some of these in Konoha to hold them, it's much easier than caring for mules." He said.

"I'll have to get them checked. Follow the other guard to the gatehouse and you'll be free to go from there."

Jiraiya nodded and followed the other guard, a young man, probably early twenties. Once they walked into the gatehouse Jiraiya glanced around, finding no ANBU or security devices the sannin flicked his wrist and a kunai buried itself in the man's neck, killing him instantly.

A Shadow Clone and a Henge later and Jiraiya was standing guard while his clone took his place as the merchant and checked around the village.

Two hours later and Jiraiya was relieved of his duty and stepped into the village.

"Hey Iwabe, coming to the tavern?" His partner, Goro, asked.

"Why not." Jiraiya said, following Goro to the tavern. He was surprised however, when Goro walked right by the establishment.

"How's about we go to my place instead?" Goro asked, Jiraiya detected another emotion in his voice, fear? Excitement? Both? Jiraiya couldn't tell but was instantly put off.

"Uhm… Alright I guess." Jiraiya kept his guard up but this was a perfect opportunity to gather intelligence, the tavern would be better though.

"Great." The guard led the way and opened the door, letting Jiraiya go in first, a weird gesture.

"You first, I insist." Jiraiya said, causing Goro to frown a little but head in first.

Once the door was closed behind Jiraiya his Henge disappeared.

"I knew it." Goro said with a smile, "You've come to attack our leader haven't you."

Jiraiya flicked a kunai into his hand but before he launched it Goro waved his hands.

"Wait, I want to help you!" He said, voice raised slightly but not shouting. Jiraiya lowered his arm but kept the blade in his hand.

"Why the secrecy?" Jiraiya asked.

"The rain, it's how the God of Ame sees us, and if you do something wrong then the Angel will come and bring justice." Goro said, "I can't take it anymore. They killed my best friend, my family, all because they were supporters of Hanzo." Goro took a picture from his wall and showed it to Jiraiya, there was a younger Goro, a beautiful woman with curly brown hair and kind eyes. In front of them was a young boy, maybe five or six, smiling and holding his thumb up to the camera.

Jiraiya looked up at Goro, who had tears in his eyes, "Please, liberate us."

The sannin nodded, "Tell me everything you know."

* * *

Jiraiya's clone headed straight for the inn, getting a room and directions to the tavern. Once in the tavern Jiraiya bought a drink.

The clone spent the next few hours gathering intel, while the real Jiraiya planned out the battle that would ensue, saddened by the fact that no matter what, lives would be lost. Best case scenario would be just the God and Angel of Amegakure, worst, the village would be removed from the map.

* * *

 _I hope you guys liked it. I planned for it to be longer and have the Snake clan's chosen be revealed but the poll is at a tie between Hanabi and Hinata currently, with each sitting at 3, though Ino close behind at 2 points. I decided to upload this early since I've got like, one day between today and next Wednesday and I don't want anyone to miss out in case I don't end up finishing. If the poll is still at a standstill I can hold off on the Snake clan's chosen until the 8th of November but hopefully there'll be a winner by then._

 _Also, I've adopted a friend's story. It's a Dragon Ball Z story with a cool twist that has Chichi as an alien from a race known as Dragians. The author decided to stop writing, mid way through a rewrite and asked if I wanted to take over. If that sounds interesting to anyone then you can check it out on my profile under the name "Gohan, the Half-Blooded Saiyan"._

 **THANKS FOR READING :D**


	5. Jiraiya the Gallant - 2

**Chapter 5: Jiraiya The Gallant!**

Part 2

Jiraiya walked out of Goro's house, disguise dropped. Unfortunately it looked like he had all the information on the God and Angel of Ame that there was to get, and he was ready, or as ready as possible when going up against two -possibly - god-like beings.

As the sannin walked the rain began to stop. At this people screamed and a city-wide evacuation started. Jiraiya was relieved that the citizens wouldn't have to die for their leader.

"Jiraiya-sensei, it's been too long." An angelic voice rang out.

"IT'S THE ANGEL OF AME, SHE'S HERE TO SMITE THE EVIL-DOER!" Someone called out, though he was silenced by an origami shuriken landing at his feet.

"Leave." The woman's voice again. The man ran, leaving the village without a second thought.

The figure of an angel was visible against the sun and Jiraiya smirked as soon as the blue locks of the so-called Angel were visible.

"Konan, it's been a long time." Jiraiya said, "I heard you three had died. I'm glad you're alive."

"Jiraiya-sensei, because I am fond of you I will give you one chance to leave." Konan landed, revealing her full figure. She was tall and lithe, her figure hidden by the Akatsuki robe she wore. Her indigo hair was in a bun, with an origami flower being used as a clip. She had gray eyes and a labret piercing.

"Woah, and you've blossomed into a beautiful woman." Jiraiya ignored her threat.

"Jiraiya-sensei." Konan repeated, this time Jiraiya looked her in the eye, "I do not wish to kill you."

"Then don't, just let your "God" fight me." Jiraiya responded, when Konan said nothing he continued, "So is it Yahiko or Nagato? I'm guessing it's Nagato right? I mean, Rinnegan and all…"

"Yahiko is dead," Konan 's angelic voice tainted with sadness, "because _YOU_ left us, Yahiko died because _YOU_ HAD BETTER THINGS TO DO!" She screamed, sadness replaced with anger. A set of paper wings unfurled from her back, sending sharp slices of paper towards Jiraiya as they did.

Jiraiya dodged the projectiles and created a Rasengan in one hand, covering the other with flames, "Katon: Rasengan!" The sannin shouted, holding his flames over the sphere and combining the two into a deadly red-orange sphere of flaming chakra. He ran towards Konan, who had a shocked look on her face that was replaced by rage before Jiraiya ended her life, a clone stabbing her in the back, forcing her to turn to paper just as Jiraiya's powerful fire jutsu hit.

She was surprised when she fell down, unable to move, but could see.

"How? … Why?" She asked Jiraiya.

"Oil, and because you're my student." Jiraiya ruffled her hair, "I'm sorry about Yahiko, I really am. That's just what happens in war though." He told her, "I thought I told you guys to stay safe, not go off and start a rebellion."

"I'm sorry sensei." Konan had tears in her eyes, "We just wanted peace."

Jiraiya smiled and hugged her, "I'll go and talk to Nagato, maybe I can bring the two of you back to Konoha with me."

"I'd like that." She smiled, Jiraiya placed a finger on her forehead and she fell asleep.

"So would I" Jiraiya walked away, towards the tower he knew his old student was waiting.

* * *

Naruto and his squad followed Shino. They had stopped for few breaks, Naruto pushing them to their limits before allowing them to stop, and even then it wouldn't last long.

"Naruto." Sasuke was beside his blond friend, who had stayed away from the others the entire mission, "We need to slow down. Everyone is going to be tired."

Naruto ignored him.

Sasuke growled and tripped the blond, causing everyone to stop, "Listen to me." The Uchiha said.

"Why don't you listen to me Sasuke, I'm the team leader!" Naruto shouted, getting into Sasuke's face.

"Naruto…" Sasuke warned.

"SHUT UP!" Naruto shouted, punching Sasuke across the face, "We'll move at the pace that I say we do, understand?"

Sasuke leveled a blade at Naruto's neck, Curse Mark covering half his body, "Naruto, you're not thinking of this mission. You have a squad to take care of! Whatever your issue is, deal with it when we get back!" Sasuke shouted.

Naruto gripped the blade, nails turning to claws and eyes becoming slits. "Put the sword away Uchiha." Naruto growled, "You don't want to fight me."

"I don't, but you may need an ass kicking." Sasuke's Curse Mark began to merge into one diamond shaped mark on his nose as his skin became gray and his hair grew longer.

Naruto felt a blade enter his shoulder, Sasuke then plunged a Chidori into his other shoulder. A fireball sent the blond flying back.

Naruto emerged from the smoke in Sage Mode. He dashed towards Sasuke and landed an uppercut, sending him into the air. "BIG BANG ATTACK!" Naruto shot a ball of molten ki towards Sasuke's airborne form, exploding on impact.

He turned to the rest of the team, "Let's keep moving, unless someone else has an issue."

"I don't think mine is resolved just yet." Sasuke said. He was in the same spot the explosion had been, gray-black hawk wings now on his back. Naruto could see the sage eyes mix with the Sharingan, creating a strange, ever moving pattern.

The blond felt a sharp pain in his stomach, then his back. Sasuke had attacked from both sides, seemingly at once.

"Advanced Pinton." The Uchiha answered the unasked question. He had sparks flying off his body as he slowly walked towards Naruto, "Naruto you have to listen to me." The Uchiha dodged a poorly thrown kunai, "Stop acting like a kid!" He roared, kicking Naruto away.

The Uzumaki caught himself, flipping into a standing position, "Hyoton: Swallow Snowstorm!" Naruto released a small blizzard from his hand that shaped itself into birds.

Sasuke sent out a fireball, seemingly from nowhere. The birds did nothing to the large ball of flames as it slammed into Naruto and sent him flying away.

"Ready to listen?" Sasuke asked, standing right over Naruto, even before the boy was done landing.

Naruto roared, a red cloak of chakra surrounded him. Muscles seemed to grow from the chakra, forming a fox around the chakra, then bones seemed to grow as well, teeth, claws, and even spikes along the his spine. Deep black eyes and eight red tails of the evil chakra finished the transformation.

"Shit." Sasuke growled, dodging a red-black blast of chakra that tore through the air. Naruto then rushed after him, jumping and spinning, a tornado of claws that flew towards Sasuke.

The Uchiha crossed both katanas above his head, holding the claws just inches from his face.

Naruto growled as he jumped away, releasing another blast of chakra, which Sasuke blurred way from, appearing in front of Naruto and kicking him across the snout, jumping back and firing a small barrage of razor-pointed feathers. They hit the muscle but dissolved almost immediately.

Naruto roared and gathered chakra and ki in a ball in front of his mouth.

"Sasuke move!" Hanabi shouted, "AIR PALM!" shooting two bursts of chakra towards Naruto's face, snapping it to the side and causing the ball to explode.

Sasuke had slid backwards after Hanabi's warning shout, avoiding the explosion. Naruto had the full force of it in his mouth however, and the muscle and bone that the chakra had grown were all mangled, dripping the toxic chakra onto the ground, where it billowed up as smoke.

What could only be described as a growl came from Naruto's throat, his mess of a face was already fixing itself, the muscles knotting themselves together and the bone reforming.

"Naruto, you have to calm down!" Hanabi shouted.

Videl and Kiba were ready to attack Naruto, while Shino watched.

A roar was her answer. She shook her head and charged, Byakugan flashing into existence as she jumped over one of the red-black chakra beams. She landed on Naruto, using her chakra as a barrier from the corrosive chakra of the Kyuubi.

"Enchanted Javelin!" She shouted, cocking her right hand back, forming a spear of ki and launching it towards Naruto's neck while jumping off. The explosion aided her escape, allowing her to land next to Sasuke.

As anabi landed Sasuke dashed forwards, "Black Chidori!" Sasuke roared, forming a Chidori in either hand. The lightning quickly changed from blue to black, multiplying in size. The flapping noise it released got louder as well.

Sasuke slammed both jutsu into Naruto's hide, managing to reach the blond inside.

"Raiton: Depth Charge!" Lightning erupted around Sasuke, joining the black sparks that were already popping up now and then, "Raiton: Thunder Surge!" All of the lightning went into Naruto, hitting him with enough voltage to kill a dragon.

Naruto screamed, his voice, not the fox's. Sasuke gripped the haori that Naruto was wearing and pulled, yanking Naruto out of the chakra construct -which dissipated immediately. He threw Naruto to the floor and looked him dead in the eyes, his skin returning to normal and the wings returning to his back.

Naruto groggily opened his eyes and saw Sasuke's bore into his own. He looked at his friend, something was different, his eyes? They were different. Instead of black like normal, or the red and black design that was the Sharingan. It was now black, with three overlapping red eclipses, leaving the center black.

"Your eyes?" Naruto asked, already regaining stamina from their bout.

"What about them?" The Uchiha responded.

"They're different…" Naruto said, "Like, I haven't seen them like this before."

"Mangekyo…" Hanabi said, "My father and the clan heads always said that a the Sharingan was only stronger than the Byakugan once it evolved into a Mangekyo."

Sasuke's eyes widened, "Mangekyo… just like Itachi!"

* * *

Jiraiya blasted open the doors to the large tower. Ame's God already knew he was coming, why not make an entrance?

"NAGATO!" Jiraiya called out, hoping to resolve things peacefully, though fully prepared to fight if needed.

"Jiraiya-sensei, you shouldn't have come." A monotonous voice called out. From down the hall a figure in an Akatsuki robe came into view.

The figure had spiky orange hair with an Ame headband, though there was a scratch through it. He had six piercings on his face, all through his nose and his eyes were purple, with six rings around the pupil.

"Y… Yahiko?" Jiraiya asked, this was most definitely the orange haired boy he had trained long ago, but Konan said he was dead.

"Not anymore. Now I am Pein." The orange haired man said, five other people in Akatsuki robes dropped down around him.

* * *

 _And that's that! I hope you guys liked it. The poll is still at 3-3-2 with Hinata and Hanabi tied for first with Ino at 2, so if you guys wanna vote before next chapter that'd be great. Whichever Hyuuga sister loses the poll will get the Tenseigan later in the story and if Ino wins then both Hyuuga will get the Tenseigan._

 **THANKS FOR READING :D**


	6. Jiraiya the Gallant - 3

**Chapter 6: Jiraiya the Gallant!**

Part 3

Jiraiya stared down the six orange haired Akatsuki members. Each of them was familiar in some way. There was Yahiko, one of his first students. Then there was the large, bald man -a puppeteer Jiraiya had met during his travels. A shinobi from Takigakure that he had met once. A Fuma clan member, a shinobi from Kusagakure, and finally there was the priest that had allowed a sick Jiraiya to rest in his temple, even though shinobi were prohibited.

"Nagato… what have you done?" Jiraiya muttered.

"Jiraiya-sensei, I apologise, I will make your death quick." Yahiko raised an arm, "Universal Pull." He said. Jiraiya was pulled towards him, unable to stop himself.

 _The Rinnegan truly is powerful._ Jiraiya thought to himself as he gathered chakra for a Rasengan.

Right as Jiraiya was within attacking distance Jiraiya finished the jutsu, "RASENGAN!" A glint of surprise crossed Yahiko's face. Before Jiraiya could hit his former pupil however, the former Kusa shinobi intercepted the jutsu, absorbing the chakra into his skin.

The shock caused Yahiko's grip on Jiraiya to falter, letting the sannin escape.

"Katon: Flaming Demolition!" Jiraiya shouted, jumping into the air and releasing a gigantic stream of flames.

When the flames disappeared Jiraiya was gone.

"Find him." Yahiko ordered, the Pein's nodded and split up.

Jiraiya was hiding behind one of the large pipes that ran throughout Ame, trying to come up with a plan, now that his original was useless.

 _He can absorb chakra, control gravity… Nagato could summon creatures from his imagination back then too. He can turn himself into chakra metal and release huge blast of pure chakra, what else?_ Jiraiya tried to drudge up any memories of training Nagato but he couldn't come up with anything else. _He should have six abilities in all, one for each body. If Yahiko is Deva Path, the Kusa shinobi… Shigeko, he has the Preta Path, that leaves four._ Jiraiya cursed and created six Shadow Clones. They all spread out, the original following one of them secretly while pulling out a scroll.

 **LINEBREAK**

Jiraiya approached the Takigakure shinobi, Settan if he remembered correctly. Settan was standing there, as if he knew Jiraiya was coming.

The real Jiraiya watched from afar as his clone engaged Settan. It appeared that unlike Yahiko and Shigeko, Settan was not built for battle. Jiraiya read his scroll, it held all documented information on the Rinnegan that the world had. Of the six abilities the weakest physically was the Naraka Path, but it had -arguably- the strongest ability, resurrection. The ability to revive anybody. Nagato wasn't stupid, he wouldn't leave the Naraka Path alone. That meant this was the Human Path, relatively weak but useful for interrogations.

Jiraiya smirked and landed behind the Human Path, a Rasengan in hand, "Rasengan!" He shouted, smashing the sphere into Pein's back. When Jiraiya's attack was done it was as if the body had gone through a blender.

Jiraiya nodded to the clone. It disappeared in a Shunshin, going to help another of the clones battle the Peins.

 _One down, five to go._ Jiraiya thought with a scowl.

* * *

Sasuke was turning his new eyes on and off. He was on watch, everyone else was sleeping. He looked up at the sky, seeing the stars in a new light. He had never known has bright they were, not since he was a child. Last time was… the night of the massacre, before he had lost his innocence. He was on the same level as Itachi now, he could win. Even if he didn't want to.

He looked over to where Naruto was. His best friend was powerful, but not on his level. Not anymore, with these eyes Naruto wouldn't even be able to try and fight him.

Naruto was curled up beside Hanabi. They were as close as possible without being in the same sleeping bag. Sasuke smiled a little at the sight.

 _What else can I do with these eyes?_ He pondered silently. He aimed at a tree a good distance away and closed his right eye instinctively, "Amaterasu!" The name came from nowhere, suddenly the tree erupted into flames, black flames. With a little effort and a blink, the flames were gone, as was the tree, and a large area around it. A sharp pain in his eye alerted Sasuke to the blood dripping down his face.

 _What?_ The Mangekyo, for all of it's benefits -Amaterasu being only one of them- was dangerous, to his enemy and himself.

A bright light appeared on the horizon. As it grew closer it split into two, two glowing yellow eyes with purple slits. A huge snake.

Sasuke stood, eyes in the base Sharingan form and his green katana in his hands. He summoned Takarou and the small hawk immediately flew towards the snake, a blade of wind chakra covering him as he slammed a wing into the snake, leaving a gash.

A bellowing hiss echoed throughout the area, waking the rest of Sasuke's group. A puff of smoke signalled Takarou's defeat and the snake sped up, slamming a tail into Sasuke with blinding speed, the Uchiha flew backwards, catching himself mid-air. The snake coiled around Hanabi and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"HANABI!" Naruto shouted, pupils becoming slits as his eyes turned red.

Sasuke appeared behind the Uzumaki and chopped him in the back of the neck, knocking him out.

He turned to Kiba and Shino, "We'll continue the mission, I have a feeling she'll be fine."

"We can't just leave her to the snake Sasuke, I know you're an ass and all but she's our friend!" Kiba shouted.

Sasuke glared at Kiba, "There're things that mutts like you don't understand." Sasuke spat, "Don't talk like you know things! Understand?" Sasuke appeared behind Kiba, katana at the Inuzuka's throat.

Kiba growled and moved the blade away from his neck, "Don't think I'm afraid of you, Uchiha."

"You should be." Sasuke said, sheathing his katana and walking towards Naruto.

"Sasuke… I too believe that we should attempt to find Hanabi." Shino said.

"How do you expect to follow a summoned creature Aburame?" Sasuke asked as he tied Naruto up with chakra sealing ropes.

"Will those hold him?" Shino asked, having dropped the idea of following Hanabi after Sasuke's excellent point.

"Not for long. I'm sending a hawk to request backup. Hopefully Gohan and Sakura will be free." Sasuke replied, tightening the ropes around a tree. A hawk appeared and flew into the air, holding a hastily written message.

Sasuke looked at his two conscious teammates, "We'll complete the mission according to orders then we'll figure out what to do about Hanabi."

* * *

" **Kit…"** The Kyuubi was actually worried, Naruto had been calling upon a lot of power at once lately, even going 8-tails not too long ago.

Naruto looked the fox in the eyes, "Kurama, I think it's time we made a deal… I need your full power."

" **You'll need to go through training first. When we finish this mission and get your mate back there's an island. You'll have to defeat your darkness."**

Naruto growled in his throat, "Maybe I'll just master Super Saiyan then." He said, turning to leave the sewer.

Kurama growled, " **Then don't ask for my help, or draw on my chakra at all. I warned you about that form, it'll be your downfall."** Kurama then expelled Naruto from the cage, waking the blond up.

* * *

 _That's two down_ Jiraiya told himself as he dropped the Animal Path's head. He had ambushed the Pein, using two clones as a distraction he threw a blade of ki, decapitating the path. As the life faded from it's eyes, so did the Rinnegan.

Jiraiya jotted the information down and went to find the Naraka Path.

Turns out that the Naraka Path would find him.

It had only taken three minutes for the Asura Path -Yukio- and the Naraka Path -Kano- to find him after he had killed the Animal Path.

"Yukio, Kano." Jiraiya said, "Nice to see you guys again." He silently made a sealing matrix in either hand.

Yukio rushed him. Jiraiya grabbed the bald man's arm and switched the seal to Pein. He then grabbed the Asura Path's face and applied the second seal.

"SEAL!" Jiraiya jumped back, watching as the Rinnegan left Yukio's body.

 _So chakra seals do work_ Jiraiya made note to add that to his Rinnegan scroll once the Naraka Path was dead.

Mid-air Jiraiya created a Rasengan, "Katon: Fire Bullet!" He shouted, shooting a large bullet of flames onto the Rasengan, "Katon: Great Flame Rasengan!" He shouted, the Rasengan growing to be nearly four times Jiraiya's size, like a miniature sun. He slammed the sphere into the Naraka Path, disintegrating it.

 _And just like that, there's only two_ Jiraiya smirked, taking out his Rinnegan scroll and jotting down the new notes in it.

* * *

 _so that's the end of this one. I hope you guys liked it. It's on the short side because the next chapter will have a full length fight between Jiraiya and the last two Peins._

 _How'd you guys like this one? Am I making Jiraiya a little too OP? What about what's going on with the other characters this chapter?_

 _So Hanabi won the poll for the Snake Clan's chosen, meaning that Hinata will get the Tenseigan and Ino won't be very prominent. Thanks to everyone who voted._

 **THANKS FOR READING XD**


	7. Jiraiya the Gallant - 4

_So just before This chapter starts, I made a mistake at the end of the last chapter's ending notes. I said that Hinata would get the Rinnegan however it should have said Tenseigan. I've fixed it but I just wanted to let those of you who read Rinnegan know that I messed up._

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Jiraiya the Gallant**

Part 4

Jiraiya was moving towards his last clone. The Deva Path had already eliminated one of them, seemingly without problem, just a single wag of his finger. Jiraiya decided to take out the Preta Path first.

It didn't take long to find Pein's second last body. The stocky man fought defensively, avoiding all of the clone's attacks, but not retaliating. The clone couldn't use ki without dispelling itself and jutsu was useless against this body.

The real Jiraiya rushed forwards, gathering energy in his fist and slamming it through the Preta Path's head.

"Goodbye, Shigeko." Jiraiya muttered as his old friend's body fell to the ground.

As Jiraiya sighed his clone was dispelled, the memories of being crushed hit Jiraiya. The sannin jumped backwards as the ground under him was hit by enough force to injure a Bijuu.

Yahiko -no- Pein, flew above him.

"Sensei, today will be your funeral." Pein said, flicking the air and sending another bullet of gravity towards Jiraiya, who flipped out of the way and fired off a bullet of flames. The bullet merely bounced off of Pein.

"Such weak jutsu are of no use sensei." Pein said, flicking the air once again, shattering the ground beneath Jiraiya as the sannin dodged it once again.

"You've grown." Jiraiya said as he disappeared in a shunshin.

Pein growled and began looking for Jiraiya.

* * *

Hanabi woke up, coiled by a large, purple snake.

"Where am I?" She asked, not expecting an answer.

"You are in the deepest levels of the Ryuchi Caverns, underneath the Ryuchi Caves." The snake said, voice surprisingly feminine, "I am Aoma, the second in command of the True Snake Clan."

"True Snake Clan?" Hanabi asked, she hadn't heard of them before.

"The Snake Clan you know of is Manda's offshoot clan. Manda once held my position, however when the White Snake Sage formed a pact with the other four great clans he betrayed us, forming another sect of our clan, taking the cave above us for himself."

"So, you're the real snakes? But I heard that the White Snake Sage resided in Ryuchi Cave."

"He is but a fake, the true sage's rival. When Manda defected and gained power, the false sage decided to join him, and Manda accepted."

"I see…" Hanabi was still confused but decided not to question it anymore, she just wanted to get back to her team.

"You will be training with us." Aoma said, "Once you have mastered our sentaijutsu style you will learn how to harness nature's energy and use Sage Mode."

"How long will it take?"

"That depends, it took our last trainee two years, though he was much more talented than you are." Aoma responded, her face morphing into what could only be described as the worst attempt to smile Hanabi had ever seen.

"I need to help my friends, can I do this another time?" Hanabi asked.

"I'm afraid that if you leave, you will not be coming back. We've had tracking snakes trying to get to you for three years now, but Manda's clan sends their own soldiers to intercept ours."

"Let's do this then." Hanabi said, "But I need to send a message to my friends."

Aoma nodded.

* * *

Jiraiya opened his eyes, which were now more like those of a toad than those of a man. He had grown larger and bulkier and had a goatee. His nose had grown and warts had popped up. He also had webs in between his fingers, though with a flex they disappeared. The biggest difference were Ma and Pa toad on his shoulders.

"You know Jiraiya-boy, you need to learn to do this on your own." Pa toad said.

"Sorry Fukasaku-sama. I'm not as good as Minato or Naruto at this. Prolly never will be." Jiraiya said, "But right now we need to deal with Pein." The old toad just nodded.

"Pa and I will use our genjutsu. You hit him with a Big Bang Rasengan." Ma said.

"It's a plan. Thank you." Jiraiya said.

"We'll have to do it quickly though, I'm making a pie." Ma said. Jiraiya laughed and left his hiding place, coming face-to-face with Pein.

"Jiraiya-sensei, what is this form?" Pein asked, he had yet to see this power, it intrigued him.

"This, this is Sage Mode." The sannin replied with a smirk as he created a gigantic Rasengan in less than a moment. He blitzed behind Pein and forced the sphere forwards, but was blown away when Pein retaliated.

"Almighty Push." Was the response Akatsuki's leader gave, a wave of energy rolled off his body, obliterating the Rasengan and sending Jiraiya -even in his Sage Mode- flying away.

Jiraiya landed and smirked, Ma and Pa were still on his shoulders, having barely flinched from the attack.

"This boy, Yahiko was it… I thought you told us he died." Pa said.

"He did, but Nagato and Konan survived. Nagato is using the Rinnegan to control the corpse." Jiraiya responded.

Ma and Pa had wide eyes at this, "That… that bastard. How could he use his friend's body like this?"

"I am achieving Yahiko's dream, your dream! Using this body as the face of the group will allow Yahiko to stay as our leader!" Pein shouted.

"Nagato… you know that this not how I want to achieve peace, it's not how Yahiko…" Jiraiya was cut off by a black rob imbedding itself in his shoulder, right under Pa's feet.

"Jiraiya, shut up." Pein said, rushing forwards and gather ki in his hands.

 _When did he learn to use ki?_ Jiraiya asked himself as he jumped over Pein and fired off a blast of ki, hitting Pein in the back and sending him tumbling forwards, he caught himself and fired off a flurry of ki blasts.

Jiraiya smacked all of the blasts away and gathered energy in both his hands, bringing them together and shooting a yellow blast towards Pein.

"Almighty Push!" Pein shouted, erecting a barrier that stopped the ki blast dead in it's tracks.

Jiraiya dropped his ki blast and jumped into the air, creating another giant Rasengan, with a shout flames erupted around it, "Katon: Volcanic Giant Rasengan!" He shouted, slamming the ball into Pein without remorse, melting the ground under him into a glass-like substance.

Pein's body was disintegrated and Jiraiya left Sage Mode, Ma and Pa returning to Mount Myoboku. As Jiraiya felt tears streaming down his face he fell over, blood pooling around him. There was a hole in his chest, luckily missing any vital organs.

"So, this is how the tale of Jiraiya the Gallant ends. It's a shame, my next book was going to be pure gold." He smiled, closing his eyes and ready to embrace the Shinigami.

"SENSEI!" Konan's voice rang through Ame's deserted skies.

* * *

Naruto woke up in a rage. First Jiraiya made him go on this stupid mission, then Sasuke actually sticks up for someone else for the first time in ever and kicks his ass, then the goddamned Kyuubi goes and tells him off for using it's power, and to top it all of Hanabi was taken by a damn snake and no one wanted to go look for her.

His eyes snapped open and Sasuke was in front of him, he could feel the binds around his arms and tried to shatter them with chakra, only he couldn't feel any circulating through his body. Instead he just growled, "Kaioken." He said, ripping the binds apart with his new strength.

"Sasuke… we have to talk." Naruto said, holding back a growl.

"We will, once we figure out our plan." Sasuke responded, "You've been out for two days. We have no back-up coming. We've already tracked down Kisame and Itachi. My brother is currently going after information on the Nibi, meaning that we have two, possibly three, weeks that Kisame is alone.

"Is that right?" A voice asked, it was jovial and sing-songy.

Naruto's eyes snapped to the voice. It belonged to a man with an orange mask, leaving just one eye visible. One Sharingan eye. He was also wearing an Akatsuki robe.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked, silently wishing that he hadn't gotten into a fight with the Kyuubi.

"Me, oh I'm Tobi." The man introduced himself with a bow, causing him to fall from his perch on a rock and hit the ground. He got up and dusted himself off, "Are you going to introduce yourself Naruto?" He asked, then covered his mask where the mouth would be, "I guess you don't have to now."

"You have the Sharingan. How?" Sasuke asked, hand on his red katana.

"Do I?" Tobi asked, spinning as if trying to look at his own face, "I never noticed."

Sasuke growled but Naruto's outstretched arm stopped him, "Tobi, is there a reason that you're here?"

"Oh yes." Tobi stopped spinning and looked at Naruto, "I'm supposed to take you to our hideout and then we'll extract your Bijuu and summon the Juubi." Tobi said, "But I don't think I can fight against both of you, so I'll just go tell Itachi that you're going to kill Kisame." Tobi waved and a ripple appeared around him, seemingly sucking him in, and like that he was gone.

"That bastard." Sasuke growled, "We have to hurry." Sasuke summoned a hawk, "Go find Shino and Kiba, hurry." The hawk flew off.

"You know where Kisame is?" Naruto asked, Sasuke nodded, "Then let's go, before your brother and Tobi get here."

The two sped off in a Shunshin and appeared at the inn Kisame was staying in.

"S-Rank missing-nin, staying in an inn." Naruto remarked, "Never saw that coming."

Sasuke ran through hand seals, "Naruto, don't try and stop me." He said, "Katon: Flaming Lotus!" Sasuke shouted, shooting a spread of boulder sized fireballs that all hit the inn, burning it's wooden foundations to the ground.

Kisame stepped out, his Akatsuki robe burnt to cinder, leaving him in just his black pants.

"You brats are asking for death." The shark-man growled.

Suddenly Tobi appeared with Itachi in tow, then grabbed Kisame and disappeared in another ripple.

"Sasuke, Naruto." Itachi said, "It is unfortunate that I have to fight you."

"You don't, by now Ero-sennin has killed your leader and your entire organisation has been disbanded." Naruto said.

"Pein was not our leader, not in truth at least. He relayed the orders that he was given." Itachi said, "And that man you just met, Tobi, he is the true leader of Akatsuki, though Tobi is an alias, his true name is Madara Uchiha."

Sasuke's eyes widened, "Madara is dead!" He called out.

"Sasuke, it is unfortunate that you did not have long to learn of the Sharingan's secrets. There are ways to avoid death with these eyes of ours." Itachi said.

"Look Itachi, Jiraiya-sensei said that you could be trusted back during the chunin exams, don't make him out to be a liar, come back to Konoha with us. We'll get your name cleared, you can live with Sasuke in the clan compound again, you can have a family." Naruto took a step forwards.

"Naruto, I can't do that. I've committed atrocities that you can't even imagine."

"I forgive you Itachi." Sasuke said, "There's no one left alive that you've wronged as much as you have me, so if I forgive you that should be enough… right?" Sasuke asked, "I've even awakened the same eyes as you." His Mangekyo Sharingan flared into existence, "So you can come back."

Itachi was, for the first time he could remember, at a loss for words, "Alright… I'll come back with you."

Kiba and Shino burst onto the scene at this moment, and Kiba saw Itachi standing there.

"I got 'im!" The Inuzuka shouted, jumping in the air, Akamaru joining him. Both began to spin wildly, "GATSUGA!" The twin twisters that were Kiba and his ninken whistled through the air towards Itachi.

The Uchiha sighed and used a substitution to avoid the attacks, appearing above Kiba's twister and grabbing the teen by the throat.

"I said I'd come to Konoha with you all. So maybe next time you'll wait for your orders before attacking." Itachi dropped Kiba to the ground. He turned to Naruto, "We should be off."

* * *

 _So how'd you guys like it? Jiraiya defeated Pein! Konan is on his side, and Nagato has no one left in his crusade. Hanabi will become a Sage. Speaking of the snake clan, how'd you guys like the made up lore I did? I figured that the snakes we had in canon were too bloodthirsty to have Hanabi, or any of the good guys, train with them so I created my own sect._

 _So there may be a lull in updates after this one, I'm getting surgery done and I'm not sure how long it'll take to recover, hopefully only a few days since it's not life-threatening or anything like that but it could take up to a few weeks for me to recover._

 _Anyways I hoped you all enjoyed._

 **THANKS FOR READING XD**


	8. Jiraiya the Gallant - Finale

**Chapter 8: Jiraiya the Gallant**

Finale

Tsunade and Naruto looked at the man in the hospital bed. He had been brought to Konoha by Konan nearly a week ago but hadn't stopped bleeding, the rod through his chest had severed many major arteries and even with Tsunade healing him they continuously tore.

"Granny Tsunade… he's not gonna make it, is he?" Naruto stated more so than asked.

"He'll pull through, but short of a miracle there's no way that he'll ever be an active shinobi again." The Hokage responded, _At least I hope he'll pull through_.

Naruto opened his mouth as to speak but closed it, nothing he could say would help Jiraiya right now, he just turned and left.

"Where are you going?" Tsunade asked before he opened the door.

"Ero-sennin left me with a training exercise before he left on the mission, I'm going to start on it." Naruto said, disappearing from sight, in a perfectly executed Shunshin.

Jiraiya just watched with sad eyes, he had awoken a few minutes ago, when the two entered together. He was too weak to talk to them, so he pretended to be asleep, not wanting to get their hopes up of him pulling through. _Nagato really did a number on me. Guess I trained him too well._

Tsunade watched Jiraiya sleep for a for more minutes before wiping tears from her eyes and leaving the room.

Shortly after Konan entered, a paper bouquet in hand.

"Jiraiya-sensei, I apologise, this injury is partially my fault." Konan laid the bouquet on the table, "I will be taking my leave now, Konoha doesn't need someone like me. I will return to Nagato's side and ensure that he does not stray from our vision again." She kissed the sannin's forehead, "Farewell, sensei." Then she was gone, the bouquet and the attached note the only sign she had been there.

* * *

Itachi Uchiha walked through Konoha, fighting the instinctual need to hide from the gazes he received. It wasn't strange if you thought about it, just three days ago everyone thought him a clan-murdering psycho, then Tsunade had announced that it was a member of the Akatsuki, not Itachi. It was a lie, but it was believed, by most at least. Some still openly scorned him, and Itachi didn't blame them.

As he walked down the street he saw Sasuke, along with Sakura, going into Ichiraku's ramen stand, a place that Itachi recalled being his guilty pleasure, usually going in under a henge and alias.

He peeked in and saw them dragging Naruto out by his ears.

"You have to come to the meeting dummy." Sakura told the blond as she threw him to the street. She noticed Itachi and waved, "Oh hey Itachi, we're going to do some training with Kakashi-sensei, wanna tag along?"

Itachi just shook his head, "Not this time, I do need to steal Sasuke though. Do you mind?"

Sakura's smile faded a bit, "I guess not, as long as you teach him something."

"I'll be teaching him about his new eyes." Itachi responded, "They're dangerous if not used properly, and he's too reckless to learn himself. As I'm sure you know."

Sakura nodded, "All too well. Train him good Itachi." Sakura said as she picked Naruto -who was trying to crawl silently back into the ramen shop- up by his red haori coat and threw him in the direction of the training ground, "You know where to find us." She waved as she ran off to where Naruto landed.

Itachi raised an eyebrow towards Sasuke, who shrugged.

"You should see when they spar." Was the younger Uchiha's response.

* * *

"Well done Hanabi." Aoma said, watching the girl effortlessly defeat one of the summon's Slime Clones, "I believe you've mastered the Snake Clan SenTaijutsu enough to be given the power of Sage Mode."

Hanabi bowed, "Thank you, Aoma-sensei." She said. Truthfully the SenTaijutsu style of the Serpent Clan was similar to the Jyuken that her clan used, and as such wasn't hard to learn at all.

Aoma guestered for Hanabi to hop on her head, which the girl did without a second thought. The great snake then slithered through the tunnels in which she abided, heading towards the Great White Snake Sage.

* * *

Tsunade had returned to her office, ready to do battle against the mountain of paperwork that was any kage's worst enemy. As she pilfered through, mindlessly stamping papers and not caring what she agreed to, one sheet in particular caught her eye, a letter from Kumogakure, addressed directly to her.

 _Addressing Hokage-dono Tsunade Senju,_

 _As per the rules created by the original five Kage, since it has been three years since the destruction of Sunagakure and there have been no advances from the surviving shinobi to reclaim the land there will be a tournament to decide the new owners of the land. The rules are as follows;_

 _ **Each village may send two teams of Chunin or Jonin level shinobi.**_

 _ **Each team must be named and consist of six members, five main and one backup.**_

 _ **If a team is eliminated, the Kage in charge of said team may add the leader to another team by removing one of it's five mains.**_

 _ **Killing is recommended though not needed for victory.**_

 _Tsunade, because the remnants of Suna number less than six you may add your own shinobi to their team to allow them a chance, Mizugakure has requested a third slot, meaning Suna will get one team only. The shinobi you gift to Suna must be Chunin level._

Tsunade sighed, "I guess that I'll have to get some teams ready."

* * *

Gohan bowed to the great tiger in front of him, "Puralis-sama, I was told that I am to be the sage for you clan." The Saiyan said, "I have come to request that you teach me Sage Mode."

A smirk crossed the gigantic white tiger's face, "Very well. We shall start immediately."

* * *

 _So surgery wasn't bad at all, lot less painful than I thought it'd be and I'm recovering pretty quickly so I decided that I'd upload this chapter for you guys. With this the Jiraiya the Gallant arc comes to a close. Next chapter there will be a two month time skip and the teams for the 5-Village tournament will be chosen._

 _Anyways, I hope you all liked this chapter, despite the lack of fights and the fact that it's less than 1k words. I tried to make it a bit longer but it ended up being really repetitive and way too descriptive._

 **THANKS FOR READING XD**


	9. Team Sage - 1

**Chapter 9: Team Sage!**

Tsunade had Gaara in her office. The red haired teen was tapping his foot nervously, there was something about the woman that unnerved him.

"Gaara, seeing as how you and Temari are the only survivors of Sunagakure, I am making you team captain. You may pick five other members, though they must be chunin or below, other than your sister who must be one of your five." The Hokage told him.

"I understand, and winning this tournament will mean that Suna's territory will be mine, correct?" Gaara asked.

"If your team wins, then yes. If any team from Konoha wins you will be allowed to recreate Sunagakure as a village, if you so wish."

"I want it more than anything." Gaara said, nervousness gone, "If that is all Tsunade-sama, then I will be off. I have a team to pick and training to attend to."

Tsunade nodded and he left.

"Good luck." She told him. Once he left she cursed, "I've gotta make two teams for myself too."

 **\- 2 Months Later -**

Gohan stood in front of his team; Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Hanabi, and Neji as their sub. It was a good team with five members having access to Perfect Sage Mode.

"Dende and the Supreme Kai had these created for us." Gohan unsealed a box. He opened it and revealed six gis, with boots and armbands to go with each. "They'll seal out ki and remove any ki related boost that we get. They're also durable enough to take one a Kamehameha at point blank range."

He then handed them out and put his own on. He was wearing a black gi with an orange sash and armbands. His boots were black with an orange lining. On the back was the kanji for sage in white and along the left pant leg was a four star dragon ball design.

Naruto had an orange gi with a blue sash and armbands, his blue boots had red linings. He too had the kanji for sage on his back, though it was in black.

 _He looks almost like dad._ Gohan thought wistfully as he looked at Naruto.

Sasuke was wearing a blue gi with a black sash and armbands. His black boots had blue linings and his sage kanji was white. His red katana was on his hip.

Sakura was wearing a red gi with a white sash and armbands. She was wearing red boots and had her red gloves on. Gohan glimpsed the seals on the gloves that would summon her katchin gauntlets.

Hanabi wore a purple gi with a blue sash and purple boots. Her sage kanji was in black. She had a small sealing scroll on her waist.

Neji had a pure white gi, his armbands, boots, and sash were all the same pristine white. The only thing of color was his sage kanji, which was in black.

Gohan smirked, "You all look great." He said, "I've got a few more gifts." Gohan took out a red pole and handed it to Naruto, "That was my dad's. It's got a few neat abilities, I'll teach you on the way."

Naruto fastened it to his back, "Thanks Gohan."

Gohan then took out a pair of gloves with sharpened metal fingers and handed them to Neji, "These are yours. I suggest sealing them in your armbands and releasing them whenever you need to go for a death blow. It's chakra metal so it won't hinder your Jyuken."

"Thank you, Gohan." Neji said with a tilt of his head, he put the gloves on and fastened them, "They fit nicely."

Naruto looked at the other three, "I don't have anything for you guys, Sasuke has his swords, Sakura her gauntlets, and I don't know what weapon you have Hanabi but I'm sure it suits you better than what I had." Gohan then unsealed a longsword and put it on his back.

* * *

Gaara looked towards the team he had gathered. They weren't the strongest but they would do. They would get Suna back. Shikamaru was their sub, but he would be an amazing strategist. Temari was an obvious choice, she was a forced pick but she was strong. Then there was Videl, she was amazing at close range combat, being physically stronger than most. Hinata was his other close range specialist, her speed was top tier and she was a Jyuken user, making her extremely dangerous. His final team member was Shino. The Aburame was powerful and his bugs were capable of taking out an entire team.

"I can't do better than this." Gaara said to himself, "Tsunade-sama said that those of you who can use ki must wear these." Gaara took out six wrist bands, "Each of us will wear these. It will seal ki and remove any ki based physical enhancements."

The team all took one and put them on.

* * *

Kakashi was the leader of his team, Team Elite. He smirked a little at the name. His team consisted of him, an ANBU-turned-jonin named Tenzo who he had history with. Kurenai, Asuma, and Might Gai.

Tenzo, codename Yamato, was a man of average height who wore the typical jonin uniform with short brown hair. Instead of a headband he wore a helmet with the symbol for Konoha engraved on it.

"Well, Tsunade-sama said that we can't use ki and need to have it sealed, so whenever we get to Kumo each of you is to go see Son Gohan and receive your ki sealant." Kakashi said, his team all nodded in response, "Good, let's get moving."

* * *

Kakashi stood in between Gaara and Gohan. Beside his Saiyan ally was a man with blue hair styled upwards. His right eye was covered by an eyepatch and he wore the Kiri style hunter nin outfit. His name was Ao, a respected jonin and ex-head of the hunter nins.

To Ao's left was a large dark skinned man with white hair and a goatee. He wore the standard kumo flak jacket with a red roped tied around it. His white hair and forehead protector stood out against his dark skin, with his sunglasses adding to the effect. He was Killer Bee, Jinchuuriki of the Hachibi.

Beside Bee was a man in the same uniform, only blue instead of white. He had a hood covering everything except his mouth. On each of his hands were padded gloves that seemed to be oversized. His name was Gar. He was only promoted to jonin two months ago, when Kumo held their previous jonin exams, but apparently he was strong enough to hold his own against Darui, one of the Raikage's personal guards.

On Gar's left was a man in a hunter-nin outfit. Kakashi couldn't see his face or any identifiable weapon, so he didn't know his name. Next was yet another hunter-nin from Kiri, he hoped that they would at least be strong enough to give him a workout.

Then there was a person in a dark robe. That was all Kakashi could see as it concealed everything. The final person was a man in blood red samurai-esque armor with a straw hat on his head. Han of the Steam. He would be a dangerous opponent for anybody, except maybe Gohan, whose alien muscles were still much stronger than a normal humans, especially with chakra pulsing through them.

Kakashi looked at the four gathered Kage. Tsunade was there, her white and red robe billowed even though there was no wind, probably just a slight application of wind chakra to give the effect of power. Beside Tsunade was the other female Kage, Mei Terumi, the Mizukage. Mei had red hair down to her back and a beautiful face, her body hidden behind her white and blue kage robe.

In the center stood Ei, the Raikage. He was a large darkskinned man with white hair and a goatee with a small mustache. He wore his white and yellow robe proudly.

The last Kage was Oonoki, the oldest living Kage. He was about four feet tall and had a large nose. He floated off the ground so that his white and brown robe didn't crinkle.

Ei spoke first, "You are the best of the best, the chunin and jonin chosen by your Kage to represent your country in the tournament for Suna's land. Of course Suna itself is represented, with Konoha lending a helping hand." All eyes were on Gaara at this point, who glared at everyone with malice in his eyes.

Ei smirked at Gaara defiance, "So now we'll find out the matches. We'll begin bright and early tomorrow." He then moved out of the way as a large screen came from under him.

 _Mist-3 vs Elite_

 _Jolt vs BOOM!_

 _Mist-1 vs Suna_

 _Rock vs Sage_

 _Bee vs Mist-2_

"Alright, you should get some rest, and give us a good show tomorrow." Ei laughed.

* * *

 _So I know this chapter was a little short and boring, but I plan on doing probably a whole team-v-team fight per chapter the next few, with some special exceptions where it'll be member-v-member for an entire chapter. Next one should be done by Friday so look forwards to it._

 _Also, planning to start a new story with a totally different writing style so if you have any ideas for it I'd love to hear them._

 **THANKS FOR READING XD**


	10. Team Sage - 2

**Chapter 10: Kakashi's Prowess!**

Kakashi was taking a walk. He had left the hotel once Anko had brought booze to the room he and Gai were sharing, Asuma and Kurenai in tow, already looking tipsy. The masked jonin decided to leave before things went bad and slipped out the window, leaving a shadow clone in his place.

The streets of Kumo were quite nice at night. The hustle and bustle of the civilians was long since past and now the only annoyance were the Kumo ANBU who werenèt good enough to cover their presence from him.

As he was reading the newest book -straight from Jiraiya himself, not even on shelf yet- he felt a spike of killing intent. He slipped the book into a seal on his kunai pouch and kept walking, heading to one of the training grounds as to not disturb Kumo's peace.

One Kakashi stepped into the center he called out, "I know you're here, come out!" A whistling signaled for him to dodge, a senbon embedded itself in a rock on the other side of the field. He jumped as two hands grabbed at where his legs had been, "I said to come out!" He called, backpedaling as spines of earth ripped through the ground towards him.

Suddenly the spines stopped and he ducked, two arms grabbing the air where his torso had been moments before. He spun around and released a large fireball, burning his opponent to cinders before he raced off back to his hotel room.

 _It was probably Kiri sending an assassin to take me out so that we'd be handicapped tomorrow_ he burst through the door to see Gai and Asuma passed out on his bed, booze dripping from their held bottles onto the floor and Anko and Kurenai talking gibberish on the carpet while piling bottles on bottles.

"Oddly, I'm glad I got attacked." He muttered as he went to Gai's bed and layed down.

* * *

Kakashi's team faced off against the hunter-nins from Kiri, their sub missing _So it was them_ He thought. Ei stood in the middle with the announcer -a Kumo jonin.

"Before we begin I will explain the rules. Each fight will be one-on-one. The first team that loses five members will lose. Killing is allowed, in fact I plan to see some deaths. Once you step in the ring, leaving it at all will mean a loss." He looked right at Kakashi, then to the Hunter-nin's leader, "The subs may compete but I suggest they do not, as their loss is most likely ensured." He laughed, "Announcer, I'll leave the rest to you."

The announcer nodded and Ei Shunshined back to his seat with the other Kage.

"Would Team Elite send their first member up!" He called out, using a ninjutsu to broadcast his voice.

"I'll go." Kakashi said, stepping onto the platform. The leader of the other team was still on the ground beneath, he had chosen someone else to face him.

"Begin!"

Kakashi dodged a flurry of senbon and ran forwards, flinging a kunai into either hand. He avoided a jet of water and covered one of his kunai in electricity, throwing it forwards. The hunter-nin dodged and as the kunai passed him suddenly Kakashi was there, his second kunai embedded in the man's shoulder. Kakashi followed up by jumping back and making a hand seal, causing an explosion.

"And Kakashi Hatake has taken the first win of the tournament, detonating an explosive tag in his opponent's shoulder!" The announcer called out.

"YOSH! Kakashi's hip-and-cool attitude will not allow him to lose!" Gai shouted, "He truly is youthful!"

 _Thanks Gai_ Kakashi thought as another hunter-nin came up, this time female. _Doesn't matter who they send, I'm not a simple jonin, not anymore._ He ran forwards as soon as the announcer began the round, rushing through hand seals before his opponent could react, "Raiton: False Darkness!" He fired off a spear of electricity, taking off one of the hunter-nin's legs.

The woman fell to the ground and slammed her palms down, "Doton: Stone Skin!" stones covered her skin, slowly rebuilding her leg. Kakashi just watched, spinning a kunai so fast that you couldn't see it, though you could tell that there was a seal on it from the yellow handle.

Once the woman stood up she growled and rushed him, speed unhindered from the stone leg. Once she reached him her stone leg split the air, pebbles fell onto Kakashi's chest as he leant backwards to dodge the move. He then used a substitution to avoid an ax-kick that would've broken a few ribs.

"You've gotta be faster than that." He said as he rushed forwards, still idly spinning a kunai. The woman growled and slammed her palms on the ground once more, he jumped right before the spires of earth would have turning him into a shishkebab. He threw the kunai, it landed and the woman saw the three prongs before Kakashi was there in a flash of white and had a hand through her chest.

"F… Flying Raijin…" She muttered before falling down, dead. Kakashi removed his hand and flicked the blood off.

Up in the Kage stands Onoki was fuming, "Minato was bad enough, now we have a Minato with the Sharingan! What next, that bastard has a son?"

Tsunade laughed, "He's on Team Sage actually, Naruto Uzumaki." She gloated.

Onoki began violently shaking with rage but said nothing else.

On the arena Kakashi was playing around with the third member of Mist-3. Either dodging or blocking everything that his opponent sent at him.

"Ya know, I thought that Hunter-nin were supposed to be Kiri's best…" He said, hoping to anger his opponent.

"SHUT IT HATAKE!" The man screamed, lunging with his tanto, Kakashi moved to the side and grabbed the man's chin and head, twisting and killing the man with a sickening _CRACK!_

"NEXT!" Kakashi called as he tossed the twitching body off the arena.

This time the team leader came up and cracked his neck. He rushed Kakashi before the announcer could say anything, twin tanto ripping the air where Kakashi was supposed to be. The illusion faded and the man saw red. His head hurt, it felt like it had been split open. IT WAS SPLIT OPEN! The man screamed until Kakashi slammed his face into the dirt below, a quick application of earth chakra to bury the head and stifle the scream.

The next hunter-nin was hesitant to fight. Kakashi had torn through his leader in mere seconds, as if the man was playing around.

He took a breath and steadied himself as he stepped onto the platform. The match started and Kakashi was in front of him. A kick to his face sent him sprawling on the floor. He then felt a sharp pain in his legs but it was gone in mere moments. In fact all feeling in his legs were gone. He turned his head and saw a tanto pinning him to the ground, going right through his spine.

"You… you're a monster." He told Kakashi, who just waved.

"Nah, I'm a demon." Kakashi said with his typical eye-smile as he flung a shuriken into the man's face, hitting him right between the eyes.

Mei was shocked, "He… he beat five of my hunter-nin easily. And his Sharingan is still covered! How strong is he Tsunade?"

"Stronger than me probably." The woman responded, it was the truth. Even though she was legendary even she couldn't have been a jonin before hitting puberty. Plus the training with Gohan and Piccolo couldn't have hurt either.

Onoki glared at her, "So why isn't he Hokage?"

"He doesn't like working." She responded, "I've tried to get him to take the mantle, trust me."

"Amazing! Kakashi Hatake from Konoha's Team Elite has defeated all five of Team Mist-3's members by himself! This'll be a team to watch out for!" The announcer said.

Kakashi left the field and joined his team. The six walked to the stands and sat down.

"Next up! Team Jolt and Team BOOM! Please come to the arena!"

The team led by the robed man appeared, followed by five black haired men who were wearing the standard Iwa jonin uniform. Team BOOM.

The other team was the one led by Kumo's blue hooded jonin Gar. His teammates weren't there.

"It appears Team Jolt is missing, only Gar has come to the arena, if the others aren't here in a minute Gar will fight alone."

"No need, I already told them not to bother getting up, " I wanna fight all six of them at once." Gar said, stepping onto the ring. Team BOOM complied and all stepped up.

"BEGIN!" The announcer shouted. Gar took off running, lightning coursing through his body as he tore through two members before they could blink, fountains of blood flew through the air as their torso was torn off just below the heart. Gar then shot both hands forwards, sending arcs of lightning out and killing two more members of BOOM.

The robed man flung his hands as if throwing shuriken and hundreds of clay birds flew out, flying towards Gar and exploding, taking out another member of Team BOOM who was unfortunate enough to get caught in the blast.

Gar escaped by substituting away, a large boulder taking the hit for him. He faced down the last two members and frowned, "I thought this would've been more fun." He then appeared in the air above the robed man, slamming his heel onto the man's head and caving his skull, all the while throwing a kunai into the final BOOM member's chest, piercing the heart.

* * *

 _I hope you all liked it. I really enjoyed writing this chapter especially. I know Gar seems a little overpowered but he's a little weaker than Kakashi right now (Like I've got a chart that I made when planning out the story that is basically a rough estimate of who's stronger than who and Gar is at 600 while Kakashi is 750) the members of Team BOOM were just weaker than Mist-3's members, and Gar is a showboat. Free imaginary cookie to whoever knows where Gar made his debut (Hint, it's not this story :P)_

 **THANKS FOR READING XD**


	11. Team Sage - 3

**Chapter 10: Glass Phoenix!**

"Team Jolt wins with a devastating victory! Team Suna and Team Mist-1, you're up!" The announcer said once he had overcome the shock of seeing Gar single-handedly demolish six other jonin.

Gar left with a wave and Team Suna took his place on the arena. Across from them was Ao, leader of Team Mist-1. Behind him was a timid looking man with glasses and blue hair. There was also a man with a bubble blower who was wearing a yukata loosely and had hair in the same style as Shikamaru. The fourth member had unruly purple hair and sharp teeth and was wearing the typical Kiri jonin uniform.

The last two members appeared to be twins. Both had long brown hair and kind brown eyes. They had two differences, the first was their weapon of choice. On had a katana while the other had a hand ax. The other difference was their bust size. The katana user was flat as a board but her sister rivalled Tsunade.

"Team Suna requests a two-on-two." Gaara said as he stood in the arena, "It would count as winning two battles."

The announcer looked up to the Kage, "We'll have to go to the head for this one." Mei and Tsunade had their thumbs up while Ei and Onoki had theirs down.

"As acting Kazekage I vote yes." Gaara said to the announcer, holding his thumb up and glaring towards Ei and Onoki.

The announcer waited a few seconds before continuing, "It appears as if the first battle will be two-on-two! Team Suna pick your members first."

Gaara and Videl stayed on the arena while Hinata, Temari, Shino, and Shikamaru all left.

Team Mist-1 had picked Ao and the timid blue haired man -Chojuro.

"Chojuro! Make me proud!" Mei shouted down, causing the timidness of the man to disappear.

"BEGIN!"

"Sand Tsunami!" Gaara raised a hand, a wall of sand forming over him and falling towards Ao and Chojuro.

"Suiton: Water Pillar!" Both Kiri-jonin shouted at the same time, two large beams of water burst through the sand, leaving the jonin unscathed.

"Phoenix Kick!" Videl's voice rang out as she slammed a flaming foot into Chojuro's face, sending him to the ground.

Chojuro then drew his sword, the bandages falling away to reveal a dual handled broadsword that shone with chakra, "Hiramekarei: RELEASE!" He shouted, "HAMMER!" The blade changed shape, appearing as a large hammer. He swung it at Videl, who was charging him.

"Phoenix RUSH!" She shouted, using shunshin to run around the hammer swing and deliver a flurry of powerful flaming blows on Chojuro.

Ao dodged another flurry of sand shuriken as he closed in on Gaara, moving ever closer as he avoided hits, even those that come from behind.

Gaara unleashed a shout of effort as the encased Ao in sand and squeezed.

The Kiri-jonin saved himself by creating a cage of water and encasing himself. Hopefully he could last long enough for Chojuro to finish off the girl.

Videl screamed in pain as her arm was cut, hanging on by a thread of muscle. Chojuro had swung the hammer form down but switched to longsword, she managed to pivot enough to avoid death but wasn't fast enough to dodge entirely.

"VIDEL!" Gohan shouted from the stands, worried for his friend.

Gaara was holding Ao and couldn't help too much but did manage to knock Chojuro off balance with a claw of sand.

Videl rushed forwards and slammed her heel into the blue haired swordsman, shattering all the ribs on one side. She then took him and threw him out of the ring before appearing at Gaara's side with her arm in hand, "Let's use Glass Phoenix." She said. He nodded levitated Ao's box, sand going from the ground to surround it in the shape of a giant bird.

"Katon: Immolation!" Videl shouted after taking nearly thirty seconds to gather her chakra, a white-hot stream of fire engulfed the sand bird.

"GLASS PHOENIX!" Gaara and Videl shouted together once she released the flames. The sand bird was now made of glass and looked positively beautiful. The sun beamed through it and created a rainbow in the arena as Gaara willed the priceless creation to slam into the ground, shards flying everywhere. Ao's mangled body was left in the debris, the rise and fall of his chest signifying that he was alive.

"Gaara and Videl take the first match and two points for their team with a gorgeous combination jutsu!" The announcer called out, "Next combatants please!"

The katana wielding twin -Mina was her name. Walked up onto the arena with a death glare towards Temari, who was her opponent.

"BEGIN!"

Temari swung her fan, releasing a gust of wind that nearly ended the match right there, Mina managed to stab her blade into the ground and stay in though. Mina rushed forwards and swung, Temari closed her fan on the blade and twisted, disarming her opponent. The blonde smirked as she batted the brunette in the face with her heavy fan.

Mina stumbled back and Temari swung her fan once more, sending the girl out of the ring.

"Mist-1, choose your next combatant!" The announcer said. Utakata -the man with the bubble blower- walked onto the arena.

"Temari versus Utakata, BEGIN!"

Temari swung her fan once more, but Utakata raised a wall of earth to stop himself being blown away. He then jumped over and put his bubble blower to his mouth, "Suiton: Bubbles!" He shouted, stream of bubbles flying towards Temari, who waved her fan and popped them, creating a large explosion.

"Suiton: Acidic Bubbles!" He released a second flurry of bubbles, these ones with a purple tint to them.

Temari looked worried as she swung her fan, but the wind did nothing to the bubbles.

"Detonate." Utakata said as they neared her, they all exploded and she was sent flying to the edge of the ring.

"Please surrender." He said, lowering his blower.

Temari flung a kunai at him and rolled off the ring in defeat.

"Hinata, be careful, he's a Jinchuuriki." Shikamaru said as the Hyuuga heiress stepped up onto the field. Her Byakugan activating instinctively.

She nodded and took a sealing scroll from her pouch, unsealing a spear. Utakata raised an eyebrow.

"BEGIN!"

Hinata rushed Utakata, who was forced to dodge the flurry of jabs and retaliated with a kick to her ribs.

Hinata grabbed his ankle and channeled chakra into it, shutting down a tenketsu point in his leg. Utakata looked shocked and Hinata jabbed at him with her spear. He ducked but still got cut across the right shoulder. A smirk crossed Hinata's face as she pressed her advantage with another flurry of jabs.

Utakata weaved through each jab, but just barely. He saw an opening and went for a punch, his right arm wouldn't move though.

"The poison on my spear is strong enough to counter Naruto's healing factor for nearly a day, how do you think a lesser Jinchuuriki will fair?" She taunted as she jabbed at his chest and knocked him down. She spun her spear and pointed it at Utakata's throat, "Now surrender."

Utakata put his hands up, "I'm done." He said, leaving the stadium.

"Hinata Hyuuga pulled off an impressive victory over Utakata. That leaves Saizo and their sub Keli for team Mist-1, who'll it be?"

Saizo stepped up, moving a strand of hair from his eyes, "I won't go easy on you like Utakata did." He growled.

"BEGIN!"

"Dokuton: Poison Mist!" Saizo shouted, releasing a cloud of toxic fumes from his hands, covering himself.

"Eight Trigrams Sixty-four Air Palms!" Hinata, with a burst of speed, threw her spear into the air and palmed the air sixty-four times, each sending a vacuum through the cloud. She heard Saizo cry out in pain as he was hit.

"NOT GOOD ENOUGH!" Saizo shouted, "Dokuton: Poisonous Pillars!" He raised his hands towards the air, the ground beneath Hinata cracked and geysers of liquid poison spewed up. She managed to dodge them, though the drops that did get on her burnt through her clothes.

"Eight Trigrams One-Hundred-Twenty-Eight Palms!" Hinata stabber her spear into the ground and moved her hands at near untrackable speeds, over a hundred vacuums slammed into Saizo, knocking him to the ground. Blood dripped from his ears, eyes, mouth, and nose.

"And with that Hinata leads Team Suna to victory!"

* * *

 _Hope you guys liked it. So Videl's nearly lost an arm, but Tsunade and Sakura are both there so who knows if that'll last? Next chapter will bee Team Sage vs Team Rock part 1! Look forward to it!_

 **THANKS FOR READING XD**


	12. Team Sage - 4

**Chapter 11: Team Sage V Team Rock!**

 _Part 1_

Han of the Steam stood next to Fire Mountain Roshi. Two of the strongest Jinchuuriki to ever live. They each had the power to control their Biju's special ability, Han could use the Futton (Boil Release) to increase his already amazing physical prowess to insane heights. Roshi was a master of Yoton (Lava Release) and could apparently melt an entire mountain.

There were four other Iwa-nin on their team as well. Kurotsuchi -a pretty woman with short black hair-, Akatsuchi -a tubby man, also with black hair-, Kitsuchi -a brawny man with a bandana on his head and a full beard-, and Mitsuchi -A rather plain looking man with black hair. All four of them wore the standard Iwa jonin uniform, with Kurotsuchi wearing a brown sash with the kanji for earth on it.

"We have Team Sage and Team Rock this round. Each team send up your first fighter!"

Naruto stepped up, "I have to be the one to beat those two Jinchuuriki." He told Gohan, who nodded.

"Try and use Kurama if possible." The Saiyan said, "It'll help a lot. Try and keep Sage Mode hidden, but don't worry about using it if you're in trouble."

"Don't worry, I'm sure the fox will comply." Naruto said, "I told him that I'd use his power instead of Super Saiyan. I'm sure he'll come around soon though."

Naruto stepped onto the arena, facing down Kurotsuchi.

"Step down and tell your leader to come out." She shouted at him.

"Why don't you get off. I wanna fight against Han and Roshi!" Naruto shouted back.

Kurotsuchi growled.

"BEGIN!"

"Doton: Earth Spear!" Kurotsuchi shouted.

Naruto jumped upwards, "Suiton: Tidal Force!" He shouted, holding both hands out, releasing an ocean from his palms that flattened the ground and sent Kurotsuchi to the ground.

"Doton: Pillar!" The Iwa jonin shouted, rising above the water.

"Hyoton: Deep Freeze!" Naruto froze the entire arena in a sweep of his hands, as he landed he willed the ice to move, leaving a spot for him to stand safely.

"The earth won't protect you for long." Naruto swung the power pole off his back and pointed it at his opponent, "Extend!" He shouted. The back end of the staff extended, sending Naruto towards Kurotsuchi, "I pointed it the wrong way!"

The woman took his distraction to run through hand seals, "Doton: Earth Skin!" Rocks began to cover the power pole, going up onto Naruto's own hand in the blink of an eye.

"Huh, I didn't know you could use it that way." Naruto said as he let go of the pole, causing it to shrink to normal size, "Nice to know." He shook his hand, the rocks falling off. He activated his Byakugan and jumped towards Kurotsuchi, who had a surprised look on her face.

"RASENGAN!" Naruto slammed the blue orb into the woman's chest, sending her flying off her pillar and out of the arena.

"Win to Team Sage. Team Rock, send out your next battler!"

Roshi stepped onto the arena, with a flex of his chakra the ice all evaporated, skipping melting entirely.

"Well kid, you asked for me so here I am." Roshi said with a growl, "Show me what you've got!" He rushed forwards, "Yoton: Scorching Rocks!"

"Hyoton: Swallow Snowstorm!" Naruto replied, sending a flurry of snowbirds towards the molten rocks that Roshi spat at him.

The attacks clashed and left nothing but steam.

"Impressive." Roshi said, "But it won't be enough." He grabbed Naruto's arm and twisted with a grunt, slamming the teen into the ground and leaving cracks. Roshi then leapt upwards and roared "Yoton: Volcanic Eruption!" Roshi spat a torrent of lava towards Naruto.

"SHIT!" Naruto cursed and held his right wrist, "Fuuton: Rasenshuriken!" He screamed, creating a Rasengan out of wind chakra and adding four blades of chakra around it. With a grunt he tossed it at the lava, as it spun it gathered the incredibly dangerous liquid and returned it to it's owner, the old man screaming in pain.

Roshi stood up hesitantly, breathing heavily as he dripped blood onto the arena. His face was bright with joy as he looked upon Naruto, who was also smiling.

"It's been awhile since I've had to use this. Get ready!" He shouted, gathering a malicious burgundy chakra all over his body.

Naruto closed his eyes, _Kurama, I need your help with this one. He's channeling the Yonbi_

" **So Son Goku finally decides to show his face huh, one tail should be enough."** Kurama said, his crimson chakra pooling into Naruto.

The blond let loose a guttural roar as he entered his initial state, the bubbling chakra tail swishing back and forth hypnotically.

He could see Roshi in his own Initial state, though it was much different. Instead of a cloak of chakra Roshi had a cloak of lava around him, giving off an orange glow.

"Round two brat!" Roshi launched himself forwards, molten liquid dripping off him and melting small patches of the arena below. He kicked Naruto, but the blond caught it with his chakra tail.

"I'll win this round too." Naruto said with a smirk, he twitched and his tail threw Roshi away, "Fuuton: Pressure Storm!" Naruto pushed Roshi even further with hurricane force winds.

Roshi managed to land, still in the arena by some miracle, "No more games." He said, "FIRE MOUNTAIN!" He raised both hands into the air, shaping the entire field into a volcano. Suddenly magma flared and spat up, before a wave of lava unparalleled in size arose from the mountain and began to sweep down the sides, where Naruto was currently thinking of a way through his sticky situation.

"Suiton: Tidal Force!" Naruto littered the mountain with yet another ocean of water, but it did little, either evaporating too soon or meeting the lava and becoming rock that was overcome by even more lava mere moments later.

"Hyoton: Deep Freeze!" Again no effect.

Naruto howled as a second tail formed and he lept into the air, his peak directly above the spew of the mountain.

"Fuuton: Pressure Storm!" He shouted, putting a sizeable chunk of his godly chakra reserves into the jutsu, pushing the lava down towards its origin. "Suiton: Tidal Force." He quenched the arena with a third wave of water.

When he landed Roshi was fine, if a little angry.

"That was my strongest jutsu. I need to use the Yonbi's power to even start it." Roshi said. He ran at Naruto, three more tails growing in the span of a second. His newfound power launched the blond away.

Naruto landed and created two bone swords, running at Roshi and slashing wildly. He avoided a powerful punch and retaliated by slashing the man's arm. Roshi reacted by kicking Naruto away.

When the boy landed he found the power pole, somehow safe from all of the massive jutsu used in this battle. He attached it to his back and ran back at Roshi, making finger guns and firing off bullets of bones, though they did little against Roshi's lava armor.

" **Kit, the Rasenshuriken should be able to beat him."**

Naruto abandoned his rush and jumped back, creating a few dozen shadow clones to cover him.

 _This'll be my last one if I do it ya know_ He told the fox over their mental link.

" **Son Goku's Yoton is too dangerous to not use it."** The demon responded, " **There is another way, but you won't be able to fight the team leader if we do it."**

 _What is it?_

" **Do what your perverted teacher asked and take the Yonbi by force."**

Naruto didn't like the idea of ripping a Biju from it's host and implanting it in himself, but Jiraiya did seem to think it was for the best.

 **-Flashback-**

 **Start**

Jiraiya had just gotten out of surgery and asked for Naruto to come in. The teen rushed in immediately.

"You stupid old man, I told you to let me come!" Naruto shouted.

"I know, but you had your own mission." Jiraiya said, "You aren't able to save everyone you know."

Naruto was still angry, but dropped it, he could berate the man later, for now his teacher needed him, "So how are you feeling?"

"Like shit. What'd you expect?" Jiraiya responded with a booming laugh, which quickly turned to a coughing fit.

After nearly a minute of coughing Jiraiya had calmed down and spoke again, "You need to collect the Biju." He said, "The Akatsuki is done for, but The Order is much more dangerous. They can't be allowed to take all nine. They shouldn't be allowed to take any if you can help it."

"But I can't steal a Biju from it's Jinchuuriki." Naruto argued.

"You can, and I'm sure the fox knows how." Jiraiya said, "Listen if you don't want to it's up to you. I won't force you to let another demon into your head, let alone eight others, but it is the best way to stop The Order from getting them."

Naruto nodded, "I'll think about it."

 **End**

 **-Flashback-**

Naruto clenched his eyes, _Let's do it then. Hurry up though_

" **I'm not too happy about this either kit."** Kurama responded, taking control of Naruto's body and causing the crimson chakra to recede into his body. With a growl Kurama forced Naruto's body into the Kurama Chakra Mode. His gi was gone, replaced by a billowing yellow-orange cloak of chakra that appeared to be made of flames. The seal that held Kurama was visible on Naruto's stomach and the boy had also gained six magatama markings around his neck. His skin and hair became the same yellow-orange as his cloak and he grew two horns from his head.

" _ **I will be taking my brother from you now."**_ Naruto and Kurama's voices overlapped as the teen disappeared in an orange flash.

Onoki growled from the Kage stands, "Tsunade you can't allow him to take the Yonbi." He warned, "I'll start a war."

"You won't even get close to our borders if you do." Tsunade replied, if not for their ability to use ki she may have been worried, but with the training that Gohan and the others had given them Konoha was leagues above the other countries.

Onoki growled and floated off his chair, "Would you like to bet."

Tsunade smirked, "Sit down little man." She stood up and sent a wave of kiai towards the Tsuchikage, knocking the man on the floor.

"What was that?" He rubbed his head.

"A small fraction of my power, and I'm not even in the top five in Konoha." She grinned.

Naruto grabbed Roshi by the throat, the lava armor was being sucked into Naruto's palm.

With a scream Roshi and Naruto both fell to the floor, Roshi convulsed and foamed at the mouth while Naruto merely dropped out of KCM and fell unconscious.

"In a surprise ending the match ended in a draw." The announcer called out, "Each team chose your next fighters!"

 **LINEBREAK**

 _I hoped you guys liked it, the fight between Naruto and Roshi is one of my favourites so far._

 _What'd you guys think of Naruto taking Son Goku from Roshi? I figured that since (_ _ **SPOILERS!**_ _) I'm not going to use the Sage of Six Paths as a character in the story I'd need another way for Naruto to get the power of all nine tailed beasts. The technique used is similar to the Kitsunegan in that it gives the user the abilities of another person, but instead of copying them Kurama forcibly takes the power. Naruto himself will not be able to use it, instead Kurama will have to be in complete control._

 **THANKS FOR READING XD**


	13. Team Sage - 5

**Chapter 12: Team Sage V Team Rock!**

 _Part 2_

Gohan took Naruto off the stage as Sasuke walked up. Across from him was Iwa's tubby member, Akatsuchi. Sasuke scoffed.

"Can I at least have a challenge?" The Uchiha waited for the match to start and immediately shouted, "Amaterasu!" Causing black flames to cover Akatsuchi from head to toe.

The announcer was stunned when the flames died out and left nothing but ashes.

"Team Rock, next fighter."

Han stepped up.

"You are powerful, it is quite impressive to finish a fight without blinking." Han said, "And Akatsuchi was no pushover." The large man cracked his knuckles, "Nor am I however, as I will show you now."

"BEGIN"

"AMATERASU!" Sasuke shouted, a spout of black flames erupting beneath Han, but the man had already disappeared. Sasuke spun, trying to find the man's ki before remembering that it was sealed. Before he could look around a powerful punch hit him in the back and he flew forwards, managing to catch himself and land in his feet.

By the time Sasuke got his bearings Han was on him once more, steam coming from the joints in his armor. He planted a strong fist in Sasuke's gut, followed by a kick to the Uchiha's face. He finished his combo by using shunshin to appear behind Sasuke's airborne form and drop a heel on the teen's ribcage, a crack resounding throughout the arena.

Sasuke hit the ground hard. He rolled to avoid yet another ax-kick from Han and jumped backwards.

"Katon: Grand Fireball!"

"Suiton: Water Bullet!" Han fired a bullet of water that tore through Sasuke's fireball and hit the Uchiha square in the chest. Sasuke stumbled back but stayed on his feet.

 _Don't have time to activate Sage Mode, I'll have to use the Curse Mark_ Sasuke thought to himself as he avoided another kick from Han. With a grunt his skin changed from porcelain white to grey, with a cross on his face. His Sharingan blazed with power.

Han seemed to move in slow motion as the two hand shaped wings sprouted from Sasuke's back and slapped the armored man away. The grey skinned Uchiha then took to the air, "Chidori Spear!" He said monotonously, lazily holding up a hand and firing off a spear of lightning that cracked Han's armor, going right through the man's shoulder.

Han cursed as he held his shoulder. Steam began to pour from his armor joints, shrouding him. With near unparalleled force the arena shook and the smoke congregated around Han into a cloak with five tails.

"Your friend and Roshi aren't the only Jinchuuriki with control over their Biju's power." Han said. His speed rivaled, no surpassed, Sasuke's. Not by much but it was enough that Sasuke couldn't dodge his attacks by more than a hair.

 _I need a minute to enter Sage Mode._ Sasuke thought as he was thrown back by a powerful punch. It hurt much more than the previous ones.

As he landed he ran through hand seals quickly, "Takarou! Takaharu! Come to my aid!" Takarou -Sasuke's partner summon, the black hawk with a white cross on his chest- and Takaharu -Takarou's father, a completely white hawk that is known as the strongest hawk warrior- appeared on either side of Sasuke, "Keep him busy while I enter Sage Mode."

"Boy, what have I told you about commanding me?" Takaharu said as he flapped his great wings once and blew Han -who was steaming as he rushed towards them- across the arena.

"I apologize Takaharu, please keep him off of me." Sasuke said.

The large hawk grunted, "We'll work on your manners next time." The great hawk and his son then flew into the air, "Takarou, I'll be the base!" He shouted. A chirp from his son was his response.

Takaharu then flew around Sasuke at speeds that Han couldn't track, forming a twister. The black hawk flew into the twister and used it to launch himself at Han, who slammed the ground with one of his steaming tails and leapt over the bullet, using the other tails to slam the hawk into the ground, resulting in a plume of smoke.

"Hawk summons, I underestimated you Uchiha, but you won't win!" Han shouted, "Suiton: Water Dragon!" As Han expelled the water dragon from his mouth his hands were already going through seals again, "Katon: Fire Dragon!" He expelled a second dragon, made of flames. The two dragons flew towards the twister, the flaming dragon over taking its aquatic counterpart and igniting the twister. The water dragon forced it's way through and plowed into Sasuke, who had yet to enter Sage mode.

"Takaharu, you alright?" Sasuke shouted after he managed to stand.

"I am fine, though I worry for Takarou."

"Go." Sasuke said after a pause, "He's more important than me winning this, go make sure he's alright."

"I don't take orders from you boy." Takaharu said before lowering his head, "I thank you though, and wish you luck."

Han had merely been watching the exchange until the hawk disappeared.

"It seems that even the mightiest hawk cannot stand up to me." Han chuckled as he stalked towards Sasuke, "And now you will pay for your friend's sins. He killed my friend so you will die." Han raised a hand, the steaming chakra forming into a blade around it, "You fought well young one."

A smirk passed over Sasuke's face as the blade passed through his head.

Sasuke fell to the ground and… exploded? The explosion knocked Han back and cracked his armor. The hand he had used to cut the clone was gone, though the stump was being healed by Gobi, though the limb would be forever more useless.

The real Sasuke still hadn't entered Sage Mode yet, though he was no longer worried about losing to Han.

"Looks like I won't be dying today." The Uchiha smirked, "Amaterasu!" He shouted, the black flames engulfing Han. Sasuke closed his eye as blood trickled out.

Sasuke's open eye widened as Han -without his steam cloak- drilled a fist into his face.

"The Gobi cloak saved me, those flames of yours are dangerous indeed." Han said as he plowed punch after punch into Sasuke.

"Sasuke step down!" Sakura shouted, "I'll take him out!"

Sasuke grunted as Han's final punch sent him to the ground. The Jinchuuriki was in the air above him, coming down with his foot aimed at Sasuke's throat. The Uchiha threw a shuriken and with a grunt of effort, swapped places with it. Han's foot came down on the sharp edge, pushing his foot through the weapon, leaving a hole.

As Han hit the ground a fireball slammed into his side and Sasuke darted forwards, using a last burst of chakra to kick the man off the stage, though he fell unconscious as soon as he had won/

"And with that we have the second draw of the tournament!" The announcer called out, "Each team choose your fighters!"

Neji stepped onto the arena, opposite him was Kitsuchi, the burly man of Iwagakure.

"It seems like Team Sage has chosen their sub Neji Hyuga while Team Rock has sent their last remaining main fighter Kitsuchi."

"BEGIN!"

Neji darted forwards, slamming two palms into the man's chest, causing him to stumble backwards.

"This match will be a cake walk." Neji said as he slammed his foot into Kitsuchi's face and knocked the man down. "Air Palm" he muttered, sending a pulse of chakra filled air into Kitsuchi's shoulder, leaving the limb useless. Another three Air Palms made Kitsuchi useless.

"And Neji Hyuga takes the win! Team Sage wins!" The announcer called out.

* * *

Killer Bee stood on the arena, his team was behind him. Darui, one of Ei's two guard stood on one side of him while Cee was on the other. Beside Darui as a lithe blonde kunoichi and beside Cee was a curvaceous blonde kunoichi. The last member was a dark skinned man with a sucker in his mouth, Omoi.

Opposite them stood a group of plain looking jonin, all of whom wielded swords.

"Yugito, you gem. You can take 'em." Bee rapped.

The team except for the lithe blonde stepped off the arena.

"BEGIN!"

Yugito flicker her wrists, her nails growing into foot long claws. With a single breath Yugito had removed both her opponent's arms.

Another Kiri jonin jumped onto the arena but was taken out in the same manner.

"Suiton: Wild Water Wave!" A stream of compressed water tore through the air. Yugito arced her back to avoid it.

"Feline Flames!" She shot two blue flames at the jonin, quickly appearing in front of him and bisecting the man.

The last three jonin leapt onto the arena together but were dealt with when Killer Bee fired off a black and purple ball of chakra that utterly consumed all three.

"Winners! Team B!" The announcer announced. "We will continue tomorrow with the following matches, Team Elite vs Team Jolt and Team Suna vs Team Sage! Team B will continue on to the finals!"

* * *

 _So I know this chapter is a little shorter than the others of this arc but I hope it was still up to par. How'd you guys like the fights in this one? They took me the longest. Next chapter will be Team Elite and Team Jolt going at it, hope you're all excited._

 _Also, I've been thinking of doing a Naruto fic with God-Runners as a major part of it, what'd you guys think about that? Something you'd be interested in?_

 **THANKS FOR READING XD**


	14. Team Sage - 6

**Chapter 14: Raikiri!**

Anko sucked the last two bits of dango off of their stick as she watched Kakashi get berated by Gai.

"... it truly was not youthful how you fought all by yourself, no matter how hip-and-cool it made you seem it was selfish." The exuberant jonin nearly shouted at his white-haired friend.

Kakashi blinked, "I'll fight last this round then."

Gai nodded, "And…"

"Yamato will go first." Kakashi interrupted , "There isn't any data on him so they won't know any of his abilities. He should be able to take a few of them down."

Kurenai nodded, "It's true, Yamato's abilities are quite impressive from what I've read, though I can't say I know too much. His files are classified."

Yamato looked up from his tea, "I am a master of Suiton and Doton. Due to experimentations performed while I was a child I have the ability to use the Shodaime's Mokuton jutsu. Though not to the same extent of him."

"He's being modest. It's true that he's no Kage level ninja but he was strong enough to be the ANBU who holds the best mission record ever." Kakashi said.

Asuma clapped the man on the back, "I knew you looked familiar, you were on Team Ro under my father."

"I was. Now I am a jonin, and will be a jonin sensei once the next class of students graduates." Yamato responded.

"He might be good but he isn't very fun is he?" Anko threw her dango stick into the arm of the chair Yamato was sitting in.

Suddenly his face went straight and his eyes opened as wide as possible, creating a ghoulish look "Excuse me?" He tilted his head, "Did you drop this?" He returned the stick by hurling it into the wall beside Anko's head.

The purple-haired woman's eyes widened, "Scary too."

* * *

As Team Elite entered the stadium they noticed a crowd of people filing in.

"Guess these rounds are public. Wonder what the story Kumo's telling is." Asuma said idly as he lit his cigarette.

"Probably that it's a tournament between each nation's jonin." Yamato said, "Let's just head in the back way."

The group headed in the back and saw Team B and Team Jolt all there. After a few minutes of awkward silence Team Suna came in.

" **TEAM JOLT, TEAM ELITE! Come to the arena!"** The announcer's voice came out of the speakers.

"Good luck." Gaara nodded to Kakashi before the jonin walked out.

Kakashi responded with a grateful nod.

The masked jonin watched as Team Jolt sent their first member out onto the arena.

" **FROM TEAM JOLT WE HAVE Colt Hiruka!"** The announcer called out as a slim man wearing a cowboy hat and a brown version of Kumo's jonin uniform. Instead of typical shinobi sandals he wore large boots with spikes coming from the back of the heels. The crowd cheered loudly

" **AND FROM TEAM ELITE WE HAVE Yamato!"** The crowd all booed as the plain looking jonin walked onto the arena.

" **FROM BOTH THESE TEAMS WE HAVE ONLY SEEN THE SKILL OF THE CAPTAINS, WHO EACH DEFEATED THEIR OPPOSING TEAMS SINGLE HANDEDLY. THIS TIME IT SEEMS THAT THE CAPTAINS ARE UP LAST!"**

Yamato stood idly while Colt rubbed his hands together and bounced.

" **BEGIN!"**

Colt immediately made finger-guns and shouted, "Katon: Bullet Frenzy!" dropping his thumbs a flurry of marble-sized fireballs flew towards Yamato.

The Mokuton user ran through hand seals quickly, "Suiton: Water Gun!" He inhaled sharply and exhaled a large ball of water that absorbed the flurry of flames and nearly hit Colt, but the man rolled out of the way.

"Water eh? I can take that!" He shouted, pointing his finger-guns at Yamato, "Doton: Debilitating Bullets!" As his thumbs dropped. Bullets made from hardened clay flew. As they hit Yamato they softened then instantly solidified once more, leaving his legs plastered to the ground and his arms heavy.

"Katon: Bullet Frenzy!" Colt shouted again, firing another flurry of bullets towards Yamato, who stood as they all hit him and he lit up, a small bonfire taking his place.

"Mokuton: Pillar of the Oak!" Yamato's voice rang out, a large wooden pillar slammed into Colt's chest, the Kumo jonin gasped in pain, a few ribs probably broken from the impact.

Colt landed hard and was suddenly wrapped by logs that curved around his arms and legs in a way that they were practically unbreakable.

With a shout Colt engulfed himself in flames, "Not good enough!" The wood burned away and just as Yamato prepared his next jutsu Colt shouted, "Triple Bullet: Tri Prong!" He shouted, a flurry of bullets flew from his flaming body, debilitating mud bullets, bullets made of water that could punch through steel, and the flaming bullets Yamato had been dodging the entire fight.

"Suiton: Water Wall! Doton: Earth Wall!" Yamato shouted, each hand raising a wall, the wall of water stopped the flames but the dirt punched through, leaving holes for the water bullets. The dirt bullets continued on, cracking the earth wall, with the water bullets finishing the job.

Yamato nearly grinned until he saw a second flurry of the triple bullets. He cursed and jumped into the air, dodging the first flurry but was hit by yet another aimed at his airborne form. He hit the arena hard.

"You can't beat my ultimate jutsu!" Colt laughed, the flames around him dying as he walked towards Yamato's prone form and held a finger-gun to the man's headband, "Gotta say, Mokuton was unexpected but it doesn't live up to the stories." He laughed.

Yamato just nodded, "I'm not on the Shodaime's level it's true, but I am a jonin myself." He said, grabbing Colt's hand and forming a wooden shell around it, "And a jonin never reveals all his tricks." With a lightning fast movement Colt was face-first on the ground, both arms tied behind his back, "Suiton: Water Gun." Yamato said, making a finger-gun and popping it into Colt's head, knocking the man unconscious.

" **WINNER Yamato FROM KONOHA! TEAM JOLT NEXT MEMBER PLEASE!"**

Team Jolt's next member was wearing the standard uniform of a Kumo jonin. His dark skin contrasted with his bright orange hair. In each hand was a sword handle, though they were missing the blades.

" **AND TEAM JOLT CHOSES Jinn!"**

' _Seems to be a Slash-type NinKenjutsu user, uses Fuuton to create the blades most likely.'_ Yamato began his assessment, ' _Built for speed, not as durable as Colt was but much more dangerous in a close up fight.'_

" **BEGIN!"**

With a flick of his wrist each blade handle had a four foot blade of wind coming from it and Jinn was within slashing range. As his second foot hit the ground Yamato noticed a spark leaving Jinn's body.

The Mokuton user substituted for a log right before he would have lost his head. ' _So he uses Raiton to amplify his speed. Impressive'_ "Mokuton: Pillar of the Oak!" Yamato turned his arm to wood and attempted to ram it into Jinn by elongating it, however the sword user diced his way through and got close to Yamato once more. The brown haired jonin spun and kicked Jinn in the head before a slash could land. Yamato jumped away and fired off three bullets of water from his mouth.

"Running won't do you any good!" Jinn shouted, twisting his left foot as he took off in a blur. Yamato smirked and jumped into the air as Jinn tripped and shouted in pain, his left foot covered by thick wood that went to his knee, which was bent at an unnatural angle.

"It's done me well so far." Yamato said as he caught Jinn across the face with a right hook, followed by a spin kick to the temple that knocked the man out.

" **ONCE AGAIN Yamato FROM TEAM ELITE HAS TAKEN THE VICTORY! WILL HE DEFEAT TEAM JOLT ON HIS OWN? WHO KNOWS! TEAM JOLT, THIRD MEMBER!"**

A giant of a man stepped forwards, wearing nothing but a pair of red pants, showing off his incredible muscle mass and blue tinted skin. He radiated malice as he stared Yamato down, his red eyes brimmed with excitement, "I get to fight this time."

" **AND TEAM JOLT HAS CHOSEN THEIR SUB Hoka AS THEIR NEXT FIGHTER! COULD IT BE THAT THEY HAVE SOME KIND OF STRATEGY?"**

"I would prefer to fight against someone stronger." Yamato said.

The leader of Team Jolt, Gar, spoke up, "Hoka here is second only to me on this team, he's the sub because of his tendency to kill brutally." Hoka grinned, revealing his shark-like teeth.

" **BEGIN!"**

Yamato was surprised at Hoka's speed. He seemed to blur in and out of existence.

"BEHIND YOU!" A grizzly voice rang out. Yamato spun towards the source only to be punched in the back of the head, sending him flying forwards.

"I haven't even gotten warmed up yet." Hoka grinned and jumped into the air, "Doton: Rock Skin!" Hoka's hands and feet were covered by stones, with sharper stones coming from his knuckles. "STONE DROP!" Hoka spun and slammed his heel into the ground where Yamato was, resulting a a flurry of splinters.

"Suiton: Water Gun!" Yamato fired off bullets of water that slammed into Hoka, though they were ineffective.

"NOT GOOD ENOUGH!" Hoka was on him once more, landing a powerful kick on Yamato's side, sending the man flying away.

"Ten- Yamato just give in!" Kakashi shouted to his friend.

"I refuse." Yamato stood up shakily, only to be slammed by yet another powerful kick, this time to the chest.

"Referee, as Team Elite's leader I pull Yamato." Kakashi said.

" **Yamato HAS BEEN PULLED, MEANING TEAM JOLT'S Hoka IS THE WINNER! TEAM ELITE CHOoSE YOUR NEXT FIGHTER!"**

"Asuma, are you faster than him?" Kakashi asked the chain smoking jonin.

The man shook his head, "I'm probably physically stronger though." He said, "I should be able to take him." The man walked onto the arena and pulled out his trench knives.

" **FROM TEAM ELITE WE HAVE Asuma Sarutobi! BEGIN!"**

Asuma's eyes widened at Hoka's speed, he knew the giant was fast but not _that_ fast. He crossed his blades to block the punch but was still sent back.

Spitting his cigarette towards Hoka, Asuma covered his blades with wind chakra and extended them three feet. The cigarette landed on Hoka's cheek, causing the man to stop his charge and brush away the ashes, giving the Sarutobi a chance to slice his chest, though the slashes were shallower than expected.

"Doton: Stone Breath!" Hoka shouted, opening his mouth and exhaling gravel at Asuma, leaving dust in the man's eyes. Hoka took advantage of Asuma's momentary blindness by grabbing the man hair and slamming a rock-covered fist into his face.

Asuma gasped in pain as the sharp spires on Hoka's knuckles cracked his forehead, blood gushing from his entire face.

"THIS IS GREAT!" Hoka laughed as he winded up for yet another punch.

"I pull Asuma!" Kakashi shouted.

"HOKA THAT'S ENOUGH!" Gar shouted instantly after Kakashi, seeing the large man about to throw his second punch.

" **AND Hoka HAS EARNED TEAM JOLT ANOTHER VICTORY! TEAM ELITE WHO IS YOUR THIRD MEMBER?"**

"Kurenai, think you can handle him? Or should I send Gai?" Kakashi asked.

The raven haired woman pursed her lips, "I can win if I manage to get off a Genjutsu, and I'm sure that I can dodge him long enough, we just don't know enough about his techniques." She sighed, "I'll try my best."

" **TEAM ELITE HAS SENT Kurenai TO THE ARENA!"**

Kurenai rubbed each of her wrists nervously.

Hoka grinned, "Ya know, maybe I'll go easy on you."

" **BEGIN!"**

Hoka slowly stalked towards Kurenai with his massive grin. Kurenai slipped into a Taijutsu stance and waited.

Hoka suddenly dashed forwards, Kurenai leant back just in time to avoid having her head taken off by a dangerous reverse roundhouse kick. She pushed his leg away with the butt of her hand and jumped back.

As she landed her hands were moving at lightning speed. Hoka rushed forwards and brought both hands down in a hammer blow, however Kurenai stepped back and flipped onto his hands, performing a handstand and then stepping onto his head, pushing off with enough force to send him stumbling forwards.

As she landed she smirked, her Genjutsu should be working to throw off his aim slightly now that they had some distance.

Hoka cocked his fist back and smirked, "Doton: Quake!" He shouted, punching the ground and causing the arena to shake, with his other hand he began his hand seals, "Doton: Spires!" He finished the sequence and caused stalagmites to break through the shaking ground, the trail heading towards Kurenai.

Right before she was pierced by a spire Kurenai disappeared in a plume of smoke, appearing behind Hoka and hitting him with a palm strike. He felt something small pierce his skin. Kurenai jumped back as Hoka roared, causing stone spires to erupt from his back.

The black haired woman threw a kunai towards Hoka, who let it bounce off of his hardened skin, "Is that all you've got?" He asked with a laugh before he fell to his knees.

Kurenai grinned as her poison took effect, "Took more than I thought, you really are a monster." She said with a shake of her head, "Now I don't have enough for the others." She dropped two needles from under her sleeves.

Hoka glared daggers at her as he tried to stand, but as soon as his chakra flared pain racked his body. Kurenai pivoted on her heel and slammed a foot into his jaw, knocking him to the ground. As Hoka tried to stand Kurenai sped through hand seals and shouted, "Magen: Demonic Illusion!"

Hoka's vision blurred momentarily, when it returned he was no longer in the arena but his childhood home in Kirigakure. He was a child once more, and his father -a convicted serial murderer- was standing above him, the limp form of Hoka's mother in his hands.

" _ **You've done me proud Hoka, you definitely take after your old man."**_ The large man bellowed with laughter, " _ **And here I thought you'd hate me."**_ Again he laughed. He went to pat Hoka on the head but the jonin's vision turned red, then black.

Kurenai had knocked Hoka out with a powerful Doton jutsu.

" **TEAM JOLT'S POWERHOUSE Hoka HAS BEEN TAKEN OUT BY TEAM ELITE'S Kurenai. TEAM JOLT, NEXT MEMBER PLEASE!"**

A girl about Narutoès age with flowing silver hair stepped onto the arena. She was wearing a tan jacket and beige shinobi pants. Her right arm was covered with old age style armor, though obviously it was a new set as it still gleamed in light.

" **TEAM JOLT HAS CHOSEN Naji AS THEIR SECOND-TO-LAST FIGHTER! BEGIN!"**

Immediately Naji dashed forwards, right arm cocked back and travelling towards Kurenai's head, though the raven-haired woman tilted and avoided the blow, retaliating with a low sweep that was avoided by a quick back flip.

Kurenai eyed Naji, who was obviously more skilled than most her age, almost scarily so. If Gohan and the others hadn't ended up in their time then even the Konoha group would have a hard time with her.

The two met in a clash of taijutsu. After a few seconds of stalemates, Kurenai found an opening. _Young, but inexperienced_. As the older woman went for an attack Naji smirked.

"Raiton: Static Shock!" She shouted. Just as Kurenai connected her punch Naji was enveloped in electricity, which traveled onto Kurenai and delivered a minor shock and made her stumble back while clutching her hand -which had minor burns.

Naji took advantage of Kurenai's stumble, "Suiton: Water Gun!" A bullet flew from the silver haired girl's mouth and hit Kurenai in the chest, knocking her back a little more. "Raiton: Thunder Ball!" Naji's two hands came together and a ball of lightning formed and flew towards Kurenai, who managed to avoid it by letting herself fall from the impact of the water bullet.

"Magen: Demonic Illusion!" Kurenai locked eyes with Naji and placed her under a genjutsu.

"KAI!" Before she saw anything Naji shattered the genjutsu and glared daggers at Kurenai, "You've sealed your fate, bitch." She spat, disappearing in a shunshin and reappearing behind Kurenai, hitting her in the back of the head with an armored fist. "Raiton: Static Shock!" Naji channeled nearly a thousand volts into Kurenai's body, leaving the woman unconscious. "Lucky I didn't kill her."

" **TEAM ELITE'S Kurenai HAS BEEN RENDERED UNCONSCIOUS. TEAM ELITE PLEASE CHOOSE YOUR NEXT MEMBER!"**

Gai jumped onto the arena, landing dead center, "Please let us have a most youthful match."

Naji -still mad at Kurenai's attempt to put her under genjutsu- just glared at Gai.

" **BEGIN!"**

Naji ran at Gai and engaged him in a taijutsu bout. Gai dodged each of her blows and once she was tired he landed a strong punch in her stomach, sending her flying back.

"Your taijutsu needs to be improved." Gai said, appearing behind Naji and slamming his foot into her head, sending her off the arena and onto the ground.

" **AND TEAM ELITE'S Gai HAS DEFEATED Naji OF TEAM JOLT WITH LITTLE EFFORT! TEAM JOLT PLEASE CHOOSE YOUR LAST MEMBER!"**

Gar stepped up, still hidden under his blue hooded robe.

" **TEAM JOLT'S LEADER Gar HAS TAKEN THE STAGE! WILL HE BE ENOUGH TO WIN THIS MATCH? LET'S FIND OUT! BEGIN!"**

Gar shot towards Gai -who also ran forwards- and the two met in a taijutsu bout, Gar faring far better than Naji but he was still not on Gai's level. Gai attacked with the same roundhouse kick that had won him the previous match, but Gar grabbed the kick and threw Gai behind him.

"Raiton: Lightning Armor." Gar said as he rushed towards Gai. Suddenly the blue garbed jonin was covered in electricity as he dashed towards Gai. The two met in yet another flurry of fists, this time with Gar having a slight advantage due to his enhanced reflexes and increased speed.

Gai managed to avoid a powerful blow from Gar, a blow witch left the boy open, and hit him in the face with a knee, knocking his hood off.

Gar had shockingly blue eyes that seemed to spark with electricity. His silver hair contrasted against his dark skin. A grin was on his face.

"You're the first person in a while to hit me. I'm impressed." Gar said with a smirk, "As a reward I'll show you my Kekkei Genkai." His blue eyes became silver and the sparks around his body were focussed into his hands. "This is what I call Sixth Sense." He said.

Gai nodded, "It seems impressive." He could tell that there was a drastic change in the boy's abilities, but couldn't tell what the change was. "I too, will show you something then." Gai closed his eyes, "KAIMON! KYUMON! SEIMON!" His skin turned red and his hair began to flow wildly, "SHOMON! TOMON!" He opened his eyes and reentered his starting stance, "Let's start round two then."

Gai moved faster than most could see. Gar however, ducked, with Gai's foot slicing through the air where his head had been moments before.

Gar then jumped, with Gai appearing with his foot in a sweeping motion directly under him.

"I thought you'd be faster." Gar said, "VOLT KNUCKLE!" Gar slammed a fist into Gai before the green-clad jonin could react, at the same time a burst of energy pushed him forwards, blowing off his blue robe, revealing his toned upper body and blue gi pants, held up by a black belt. Gai flew away from the impact and Gar followed, "Why don't you go to your max?"

Gai sent a roundhouse kick at Gar's head, but the teen had stopped dead right before the kick could hit him.

Gai growled a little but closed his eyes once more, "KEIMON!" Gai shouted. Rubble from around them started to form a vortex around him.

Gar smirked, "That won't be enough. VOLT KNUCKLE!" Before Gai could react Gar had a fist in his stomach again and was pushed forwards by a jolt of chakra. Gai landed and coughed up blood.

Gar was standing above Gai, "First Touch: Crackle." He placed a finger on Gai's forehead and caused a single bolt of electricity to go through him, though it was so weak it did nothing. "Second Touch: Spark." Without moving his finger, Gar sent a much larger bolt, though still without enough energy to do anything but make Gai shudder. "Third Touch: Stun." A third, much larger, bolt flew through Gai and the man screamed in pain as his Gates were forcibly shut down.

Gar smirked, "This style was made to stop the Eight Gates. It's known as the Jolt Fist." With a smile Gar cocked his fist back, "Fourth Touch: Shock!" He punched Gai in the face, a large bolt of electricity travelling from his hand to Gai's body, lighting the man up momentarily. Gar cocked his fist again, "Fifth Touch: JOLT!" Gar's next punch sent Gai flying away, unconscious and twitching.

" **TEAM JOLT'S Gar HAS DEFEATED TEAM ELITE'S Gai LEAVING BOTH TEAMS WITH THEIR LAST FIGHTER. TEAM ELITE PLEASE CHOOSE YOUR FINAL SHINOBI!"**

Kakashi stepped up. Gar was too much for Anko and the woman knew it.

"This won't take long." Gar smirked. Unfortunately Kakashi believed him.

" **TEAM ELITE'S LEADER Kakashi Hatake HAS TAKEN THE STAGE! THE FINAL FIGHT OF THIS ROUND WILL BE A FIGHT BETWEEN LEADERS! BEGIN!"**

"Raikiri!" Kakashi shouted as soon as the announcer started the fight, running towards Gar and unveiling his Sharingan at the same time. His lightning covered hand missed Gar by a hair and he felt a punch hit him in the side.

"VOLT KNUCKLE!"

Kakashi flew. He landed and looked Gar dead in the eyes. "KAMUI!" He shouted. His Sharingan changed from the normal three tomoe to it's Mangekyo form, three triangles that curved at the end. A swirling black portal opened near Gar, but the teen somehow avoided it and rushed Kakashi, landing a strong punch to the masked jonin's face.

"VOLT KNUCKLE!" The jet of chakra pushed Gar's fist even further into Kakashi's face, sending him even further away, right to the edge of the arena.

Gar was standing above Kakashi, "First Touch: Crackle! Second Touch: Spark! Third Touch: Stun!" Three bolts, each stronger than the last, all found their way into Kakashi's chest at the same time, "Fourth Touch: Shock! Fifth Touch: JOLT!" Two more, exponentially more powerful, bolts also found their way into Kakashi's chest, causing him to scream out in pain, "And finally, Sixth Touch: Blitz!" All of the energy left Gar's body and he slumped to the ground, barely conscious.

Kakashi, confused, went to stand, though it hurt he managed. As he removed a kunai to finish the fght Gar snapped his finger and a bolt of lightning came from the sky. Kakashi, in his beaten up state, couldn't dodge it and was blasted off the arena.

" **AND WITH Kakashi's DEFEAT THE VICTORY GOES TO TEAM JOLT OF KUMOGAKURE!"** The announcer said, causing the crowd to erupt in applause.

* * *

 _Wow it's been a while. Sorry guys, I've been swamped with school and work, plus working on my novel so I haven't managed to write much and I really didn't want to split this into two chapters._

 _Anyways I hope you liked it even though Team Elite lost. Gar's Sixth Sense acts a lot like Goku's Ultra Instinct for those who've seen Dragon Ball Super, but I promise you all I thought of when I was writing Legends Will Rise, chapter 23 to be exact._

 _Not sure when the next chapter will be out, depends on a lot of factors, like how busy my work schedule is, and how much I think I'll need to study for my exams, but I hope to have it out on the 23rd of December. Next chapter will be Team Suna and Team Sage so let me know who you wanna see fight, I'll leave a list of each team's members down below for ya._

 _Team Suna_

 _Gaara_

 _Videl (Heavily damaged arm so she's sitting as their sub)_

 _Temari_

 _Hinata_

 _Shino_

 _Shikamaru_

 _Team Sage_

 _Gohan_

 _Naruto (Still unconscious from absorbing Son Goku from Roshi)_

 _Sasuke_

 _Sakura_

 _Hanabi_

 _Neji (Sub)_

 _Also, I've plans for a Naruto fanfic that involves God-Runners, do you guys think you'd enjoy something like that? Let me know._

 **THANKS FOR READING XD**


	15. Team Sage - 7

**Chapter 15: Shukaku**

" **TEAM SAGE AND TEAM SUNA GO HEAD TO HEAD IN THIS ROUND!"** The announcer called out. The crowd seemed genuinely interested even though they were all foreign shinobi. " **UNFORTUNATELY FOR TEAM SAGE NARUTO UZUMAKI IS STILL RECOVERING FROM HIS LAST MATCH!"** It was true, ever since he had abstracted Roshi's Bijuu Naruto had been in a comatose state. Sasuke was visually debilitated, having used his Mangekyo too much in the last round, forcing him to wear bandages over his face.

" **EACH TEAM, PLEASE SELECT YOUR FIRST MEMBER!"** Temari stepped up. Her fan in hand and a serious look on her face. Against Temari was Hanabi, who tightened her gi sash as she stared down the Suna native.

" **HANABI HYUUGA VERSUS TEMARI OF THE SAND! BEGIN!"** Hanabi darted forwards, Byakugan activated and both hands letting out a faint wisp of violet chakra. Temari swung her fan, letting loose a gale that slowed Hanabi's attack.

"Sorry Hanabi, I like you and all, but I can't lose here!" Temari shouted, "Kuchiyose: Beheading Dance!" Temari bit her thumb and drew a line on her fan, a plume of smoke and a powerful swing if her fan later and there were hundreds of wind blades that flew towards Hanabi, who had yet to halt her attack.

The younger Hyuuga twin managed to stop on her toes and began to spin, "KAITEN!" She shouted, a blue sphere surrounded her spinning body, blocking all the wind blades. As she stopped her revolution however, a giant weasel -nearly three feet long- carrying a sickle almost as long as himself dashed at her.

Hanabi's eyes widened as she attempted to bend backwards to avoid the slash. It was to no avail however. The weasel was too fast and managed to cut Hanabi's arm, leaving a deep cut. The Hyuuga ground her teeth and jumped to avoid a second cut.

"The air isn't a good place to be!" Temari shouted, waving her fan and sending a blast of wind upwards.

Hanabi responded by spinning, keeping her arms and legs tight, "Kaiten: Drill!" She shouted, spinning downwards encased in chakra with a drill shape that pierced through the wind and let Hanabi burrow into the ground.

Temari waited. She couldn't tell where Hanabi was hiding. All she could do was wait. Traps were ineffective against Byakugan users and she had only Fuuton jutsu at her disposal.

After nearly a minute Hanabi burst out of the ground, palming Temari in the chin and knocking her up into the air. Hanabi then fired off an Air Palm, pushing Temari further into the air. She let the blonde fall into the ground with a crunch.

Temari stood up, favouring her left leg. She glared at Hanabi. The girl was the pinnacle of what Temari herself had always wished to be. A kunoichi who could hold her own against anybody. The fact that without summoning -one of the most powerful abilities a shinobi could have- Temari wouldn't have been able to land a hit was a testament to Hanabi's skills.

"Guess I'll have to turn things up a notch!" Temari said, "I'll be going for lethal moves now Hanabi. Sorry in advance!" Temari swung her fan with all her might, creating three mini-cyclones that tore through the air towards Hanabi. With a second swing hundreds of wind blades were added to the mix. A third swing created a barrier similar to the Hyuuga's Kaiten around the two. "This is my Tearing Cyclone Prison jutsu."

Hanabi stayed calm, avoiding wind blades and dancing around cyclones simultaneously, but whenever a wind blade hit the barrier two more shot towards her. Temari was also keeping all the projectiles away from herself with near-master levels of chakra control, though it couldn't be easy on her reserves.

Hanabi glanced toward sher opponent and noticed a grin. Her Byakugan then detected wind blades from each direction. Thinking quickly she jumped into the air, avoiding the blades, which all met in the middle. However, instead of merely clashing against each other, the blades met and formed a cyclone that engulfed Hanabi.

"KAITEN!" Hanabi's voice rang throughout the arena. The cyclone was torn to shreds as the sphere of revolving chakra grew. It expanded as Hanabi forced more and more chakra into it, growing large enough to break Temari's wind barrier.

The blonde's eyes widened as she saw Hanabi's show of sheer power. She fell to her knees in defeat.

"I concede." She muttered, watching Hanabi's laboured breathing.

" **TEAM SUNA'S TEMARI HAS CONCEDED. WINNER OF THE FIRST MATCH IS TEAM SAGE'S HANABI HYUUGA. SUNA, YOUR NEXT MEMBER PLEASE!"**

Shino stepped up. "I will be your opponent Hanabi." He said.

" **SHINO ABURAME VERSUS HANABI HYUUGA! BEGIN!"**

"Air Palm!" Hanabi shouted as soon as the fight began. Facing Shino wouldn't be easy. He was smart and had a good idea of her skill set due to being on her sister's team.

Shino rushed headfirst towards Hanabi, expert footwork allowing him to sidestep the burst of chakra and continue towards her without losing speed. He stepped aside from a few more Air Palms and was suddenly behind Hanabi, sweeping her legs out from under her just as she noticed he was there. She caught herself on one hand and spun, kicking at Shino as she did, but with a second burst of chakra to his legs Shino moved just out of her range.

' _He's got a good grasp of my range. Doesn't help that I used a bunch of chakra with that giant Kaiten.'_ Hanabi moved as Shino's heel tore into the ground. She noticed a few extremely small chakra signatures with her Byakugan. ' _Must be his bugs.'_ She blasted them away with an Air Palm, ' _Can't let them touch me.'_

Shino pressed her again, using Shunshin to avoid all of her blows and forcing her to Air Palm his insects out of the air every so often as to waste her chakra.

' _I won't be able to win a battle of attrition right now, not after the chakra I used against Temari'_ Hanabi shut off her Byakugan and charged Shino, attacking him with a bastardised version of the jyuken. She couldn't shut off his tenketsu without her Byakugan active, but she could still inflict a decent amount of damage with taijutsu, something she knew she was better at than Shino. She managed to get a few good hits off, pushing him back. What she didn't notice however was the Kikaichu that crawled onto her every time she clashed with Shino.

Noticing that she had a good chance, Hanabi quickly activated her Byakugan and aimed a palm at each of Shino's shoulders, noticing the insects too late she fell to her knees as Shino used Shunshin to avoid the loss of his arms.

Hanabi bursted chakra from her entire body, knocking all of the Kikaichu, but leaving her open to Shino's attack, a swift but powerful kick to the head, knocking her out.

"I apologise Hanabi, but for my team's sake I did what I had to." Shino said as he picked her up and carried her to the edge, where Gohan took her and nodded to him in thanks.

Gohan placed the unconscious Hanabi on the bench. "Sakura, you're up." Gohan said, tilting his head towards the ring. The pinkette smirked and jumped up.

" **WITh TEAM SUNA'S SHINO ABURAME'S VICTORY TEAM SAGE HAS DECIDED TO SEND SAKURA HARUNO TO THE RING! BEGIN!"**

Sakura disappeared in a Shunshin, surprising Shino who barely had a moment to react as he put up his arms and braced himself for Sakura's earth covered fists that sent him flying backwards. His arms were sore, surely bruised from the impact.

"Doton: Earth Shards!" Sakura shouted, punching the air and sending a flurry of pebbles towards Shino, who inhaled and shot forth a fireball, "Katon: Fireball Jutsu!"

The fireball tore through the pebbles and nearly hit Sakura, who jumped over the flames with a grin, "Suiton: Mizurappa!" A stream of water tore through the air, aimed at Shino.

"Doton: Earth Wall!" He slammed his hands onto the ground and raised a wall of earth, blacking the jet successfully.

Sakura landed and grinned, "Seems we're at an impasse for jutsu. Let's settle it with a brawl then." She rushed him, covering her arms and legs in hardened stone as she did. Her blows were precise and brutal, aiming for his weak points and forcing him back. With one last push Sakura kicked him in the ribs, sending him flying away.

"Doton: Earth Wall!" She made a wall that he crashed into, sending cracks throughout the reinforced stone.

Shino stood up and put out both his arms, "Insect Revolution!" From his sleeves millions of Kikaichu flew towards Sakura. They formed a sphere around her and slowly closed in.

"I apologise Sakura, but I do what I must to win." Shino said, bringing his hands together in a clap. The insects coalesced on Sakura, or would have had she still been there.

"That was a close one." Sakura panted, "You've gotten strong Shino." With a grin Sakura Shunshined right in front of the Aburame and, with all her might, punched him in the chest, sending him flying away.

" **SAKURA HARUNO HAS SENT SHINO ABURAME FLYING OUT OF THE RING! TEAM SUNA CHOOSE YOUR NEXT COMBATANT!"** At this Hinata stepped up. " **HINATA HYUUGA VERSUS SAKURA HARUNO; BEGIN!"**

Sakura jumped as two bursts of air flew at her. Hinata wasn't playing around it seemed. As Sakura landed Hinata was there, a flurry of blows that Sakura barely blocked. As Hinata jumped back to avoid a punch Sakura's arms fell limp.

Hinata steeled her eyes and charged Sakura once again, using her immense flexibility to duck under Sakura's kicks and landing hit after hit upon her pink haired friend. Hinata ducked under one very notable kick and rose upwards, hitting Sakura with a palm to the chin, knocking her upwards.

The arena was quiet as Sakura flew through the air. Until she hit the ground the tension was palpable. When she hit the crowd erupted in cheers for Hinata.

" **WITH AN INCREDIBLE SHOW OF FINESSE, HINATA HAS WON THIS MATCH! TEAM SAGE PLEASE CHOOSE YOUR NEXT FIGHTER!"** Neji walked onto the arena and picked Sakura up as Gohan began his stretches. Once Neji was back on the bench Gohan walked onto the arena floor, tying his sash and slipping into the Demon Style stance. " **TEAM SAGE'S LEADER SON GOHAN HAS TAKEN THE STAGE! GOHAN VERSUS HINATA; BEGIN!"**

Gohan weaved through Air Palms. Hinata clearly wanted to keep him far away. He smirked, dodging on reflex as he felt his battle calm descend. In a moment of rest that Hinata accidentally provided him he struck, sending a burst of chakra into her stomach. "Tiger Kata: Skewer." He said as she knelt over, "One of the moves that I learned while practicing to attain Sage Mode." He said, "Probably my favorite." He walked towards her, "Fundamentally it's the same as your Air Palm, except instead of aiming for internal injuries I aim for external." Gohan then cocked his fist back and sent her flying out of the ring, her back hitting the stone barrier that separated the stands from the competitor arena.

Shikamaru stepped up next. "Troublesome, Videl would be much better at this." He muttered as he stared at Gohan.

 **BEGIN!**

Shikamaru's shadows wrapped around Gohan, but the Demi-Saiyan managed to struggle forwards, barely able to move without his ki. Shikamaru's face was blank. He expected Gohan to be strong enough to move.

Gohan smirked, flexing his chakra and slipping into a Shunshin, breaking Shikamaru's shadow simultaneously. He appeared behind the Nara and slammed a leg into his ribs, cracking noises reverberated around the arena, causing the audience to wince as one. Shikamaru hit the ground twenty feet away, blood dribbling from his mouth.

As the Nara tried to stand Gohan was in front of him. He grabbed Shikamaru by the hair and dragged him to the edge of the arena, where he landed near Hinata's unconscious form.

The Demi-Saiyan's eyes flashed green ominously as he eyed Gaara, who floated onto the arena on a cloud of sand.

"I don't know who you are, but Gohan isn't this violent." Gaara said, "He's much more peaceful, especially when it comes to his friends."

Gohan laughed, "Ya. He is." He said, "But right now, they're not my friends. This is war, and you're an enemy."

A wall of sand blocked the spike of air that nearly impaled Gaara.

"I thought ki was banned." The acting Kazekage said.

"It's a Fuuton jutsu, not ki." Gohan sent another three spears of wind. The first one shattering the shield of sand, the next two impaling Gaara in either of his arms.

"Tiger Kata: Skewer!" Gohan shouted, punching forwards and causing a large vacuum to hit Gaara, sending him flying out of the ring.

" **AMAZING! SON GOHAN HAS DEFEATED THE THREE REMAINING MEMBERS OF TEAM SUNA WITHOUT A PROBLEM!"** The crowd erupted in applause, " **IT SEEMS KONOHA IS DEAD SET ON WINNING THIS, BUT WITH THEIR NEXT TWO MATCHES BEING AGAINST KUMO'S OWN TEAM JOLT AND TEAM B IT'S NOT LIKELY THAT THEY'LL ACCOMPLISH THEIR GOALS!"**

* * *

 _Sorry it's been so long guys. My holiday kinda sucked major ass and I almost gave up on Fanfiction (Mostly unrelated to my holiday. I just kinda lost a bit of writing time cuz of some family shit that went down on X-mas eve). It wasn't until one of my close friends basically forced me to write this that I got around to doing it. I've decided to continue, though I'm not sure what my update schedule will be like I'll try and update monthly at least. Chapters will prolly be a bit longer too so that'll be good._

 _Anyways, big thanks to all of you who are reading this, really does mean a lot. Sorry again for the wait._

 **THANKS FOR READING :)**


	16. Team Sage - 8

**Chapter 16: Full Force Sage Mode! Sakura's Determination!**

Sakura watched Naruto as he lay on the hospital bed. Ragged breathing and occasional twitch accompanied by a shout of pain. Hanabi beside him holding his hand tight all the while.

"Hanabi, you should stay with him. I think the four of us can handle Team Jolt." Sakura said after watching Naruto shout exceptionally loud.

Hanabi didn't turn to look at the pinkette, she just shook her head, "I can't. You know he wouldn't want me to abandon you guys. Remember this tournament is for Gaara and Temari's sake. Not just Konoha's."

"Relax. Neji can take your place and Gohan is still stronger than anyone else on the planet." Sakura said, trying to reassure her friend.

Hanabi looked as if she was going to argue but Naruto's latest shout interrupted her. His eyes fluttered open. Instead of their usual blue they were a molten orange and moved like lava down a mountain.

"Naruto!" Hanabi exclaimed. Sakura rushed forwards, hands glowing green with healing chakra. She placed her hands over his chest and he quieted down a little, though he still kept screaming.

A sudden burst of chakra threw Hanabi and Sakura away, both slamming into the fuuinjutsu reinforced walls that the shinobi hospital of Kumo were made from.

A molten glow radiated from Naruto as his body began to heat up. He screamed and the hospital shook.

Tsunade burst through the door with Kakashi beside her. She rushed to Naruto's side, quickly using a jutsu to scan him.

"He's nearly done integrating Yonbi's chakra." The sannin said, "Because his chakra is already developed it will be extremely rough for the next few hours, but he should be better than ever once he's done."

Sakura breathed a sigh of relief as Kakashi let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Hanabi, you can go fight. I'll stay with him." Kakashi said.

"It's alright. I want to stay." Hanabi said, giving Sakura an apologetic look, "After that last outburst I don't think I can fight without worrying."

Kakashi nodded, "I'll be here to check in regularly. Let me know if he wakes up." He said, leaving the room.

"I should be getting back too. Oonoki is going to declare war against everyone at this point." Tsunade said, following behind Kakashi.

"I'll go let Neji know that he'll be taking your place. If he wakes up let us know." Sakura said, walking out and leaving Hanabi alone with Naruto.

The pinkette stepped out of the hospital and began the walk towards her hotel. The match was tomorrow. Then two days after would be the finals. Naruto and Sasuke would hopefully be in fighting shape for the finals. Sasuke couldn't use his Mangekyo Sharingan in this round, and probably wouldn't be ready in time for the finals either. If they made it that far.

With a sigh Sakura stepped into her hotel room. The air felt stale, the happy atmosphere that Hanabi emitted gone with the Hyuga princess.

The pinkette sighed and flopped down on her mattress.

* * *

The next morning came all too early for Sakura, who rolled out of bed, still dressed in the ki suppressing gi Gohan had given her.

' _Guess I fell asleep in it'_ She thought as she quickly freshened up and made her way to the arena. Team Jolt wasn't going to be easy to beat, but they'd manage.

When she walked into the arena Neji and Sasuke were already there, glaring across at Team Jolt from across the arena.

"Where's Gohan?" Sakura asked as she stepped in between her teammates.

"Meditating." Sasuke said, "He told us to handle it for today."

"Of course. So we're three members down and up against someone who beat Gai-sensei and Kakashi-sensei. Great." Sakura huffed, "Just our luck."

"Neji you'll be up first. Sakura second. If I need to I'll go last. I won't be able to use my Mangekyo, and I'll have to spare my Sharingan so Sakura will be our best bet for this match."

Neji nodded and stepped onto the arena. He opened his eyes wide, revealing his Byakugan, though there was a slight tint of blue in it. Across from him Jinn stepped up, still wearing his normal uniform, though he now had four bladeless swords.

"I've decided to go all out now. I apologize in advance." Jinn smirked at Neji.

"No need to apologize, I'm glad I'll get to beat you at your best." The Hyuuga said.

" **BEGIN!"**

Jinn started off by using shunshin to get behind Neji and throw two swords into the air, slashing horizontally with the other two, though they bounced off Neji's Kaiten. Jinn jumped and grabbed the two airborne handles, throwing them towards the dome of chakra.

Neji suddenly bored a hole into the ground, appearing ten feet back just as the blades tore through his fading Kaiten and impaled the ground before clattering down.

With a flick of his wrists all four handles flew back to Jinn and landed in their scabbards on his back.

"Wires." Neji noted, "Wasn't expecting that. Should've hidden it from me." The Hyuuga said before stepping forwards, only to disappear from sight, reappearing in front of Jinn with a palm in the man's gut. Following his palm strike Neji leant forwards, planting the bottom of his sandal into Jinn's face and sending him to the ground a few feet back. "Air Palm: Barrage!" Neji said, his hands becoming blurs as they created small bursts of chakra in the air that flew towards Jinn's prone body. Seconds later Jinn cried out in pain and his mouth erupted with blood.

" **Neji Hyuuga is the victor of this match. Team Jolt choose your next combatant!"**

Colt stepped up, still dressed in his usual western-style Kumo uniform.

" **BEGIN!"**

Colt immediately fired his flaming bullets, this time they were each the size of boulders.

Neji ran towards the dozen boulder sized flames and jumped, twisting his body to avoid each of them. When he landed they were a dozen actual boulders flying at him, as well as large orbs of water.

"Kaiten: Tempest!" Neji began his Kaiten, though instead of a dome he formed a cyclone of chakra that gathered all of the bullet jutsu in it, causing them to swirl.

"Suiton: Glue bullets!" Colt fired off hundreds of small white bullets that peppered the cyclone. As he continued the barrage Neji's tempest began to slow until it eventually came to a halt.

Colt smirked and held his left wrist. His left thumb clapped down and he shouted, "Katon: Conflagrant Immolation!" The white hot sphere was no larger than a pebble but the heat it emitted caused some of the audience to pass out. It flew slowly towards the large cyclone statue Neji was encased in and easily penetrated the surface, exploding and sending shrapnel all over. Barriers erupted around the audience.

Neji stood unharmed, a second Kaiten having saved him from damage.

Colt laughed, "You're tough. I'll enjoy beating you!" Changing to his usual two-gun style Colt shot both his thumbs down, "Suiton: Impact Bullets! Doton: Destructive Bullets!"

Neji danced through the bullets, avoiding each of them and rushing towards Colt. "Unfortunately I've decided not to lose." The Hyuuga prodigy said as he stood in front of Colt, "And you've entered my field of divination. Eight Trigrams Sixty-four Palms!" Neji slammed his hands into Colt's chest, "FIRST!" A second flurry of hands slammed into Colt, "SECOND! THIRD! FOURTH! FIFTH! SIXTH!" Once Neji's last flurry was done Colt fell to the ground and melted into mud.

Neji spun around, his Byakugan noticing movement in his blind spot. He was slammed by a barrage of water, stone, and flame bullets. He flew back and hit the ground.

"My bullets you dodged earlier weren't for attacking, they built my mud clone, right in your blind spot. And substitution is pretty easy to pull off if I do it right before you hit me." Colt smirked, aiming his fingers at Neji's prone form, "Tri-prong: Triple Bullet Frenzy!" He dropped his guns down and three orbs formed, stone in the middle, flame on the left, and water on the right. "Katon: Conflagrant Immolation! Suiton:Inundating Torrent! Doton: Triturating Gaia!" From the orbs flew hundreds of small bullets. The flame bullets created heat waves as they flew, the water bullets were compressed enough to punch through lonsdaleite ( _A substance that is about 58% harder than diamond_ ) and the stones were dense enough that they began to draw in the lose ground as they flew.

Neji flipped up and forced a Kaiten, "Kaiten: Expulsion!" His dome grew and pushed away the bullets as well as the arena around him, leaving a large trench.

Debris filled the arena as the two combatants glared at each other, panting. Neji was dripping blood and favouring his right leg. Colt seemed to be fine just exhausted.

"You won't be able to hit me without taking a hit yourself. And I've still got another few shots left." Colt said, "just give up Hyuuga. I won't lose against anyone from your clan."

Neji smirked and held his left wrist while holding it out to the side, a shell of chakra surrounded him and slowly shrunk into his hand, "Kaiten: Air Palm!" He shouted, jabbing the orb at the air and sending it flying at high speeds towards Colt.

The Kumo-nin laughed, "THIS IS THE FIGHT I WANT! SHOW ME EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT! Katon: Star Burst Volley!" From Colt's fingertips came millions of embers that flew towards Neji's sphere and enveloped it.

"EXPAND!" Neji shouted, quickly performing hand signs and causing his orb to grow ten times in size, resulting in an explosion that sent both Colt and Neji flying back and out of the arena.

" **A DOUBLE ELIMINATION! BOTH TEAMS MUST CHOSE THEIR NEXT FIGHTER!"**

Sakura stepped up, unsealing her katchin gauntlets as she did. Across from her was Hoka, the brute who had taken down Yamato and Asuma without much trouble.

" **BEGIN!"**

"Doton: Rock Skin!" Hoka shouted, covering his arms and legs in stone. Without warning he was in the air above Sakura, "STONE DROP!" He shouted, slamming his heel towards her head.

With a grunt Sakura blocked with her gauntlets, though the ground beneath her still splintered.

Hoka jumped back, grinning. Twisting his neck he launched himself forwards, right arm cocked back. Sakura adjusted her guard to block the punch but was taken by surprise when Hoka's knee slammed into her ribs, sending her flying back.

Her hands were already glowing green to heal the broken bone before she landed. As soon as he feet touched the ground she blasted forwards, "Suiton: Mizurappa!" She shouted, blasting off streams of water as she circled Hoka, though he managed to stomp up walls of earth that stopped the blasts in their tracks.

"Doton: QUAKE!" Hoka shouted, punching the ground beneath him and sending a shockwave towards Sakura, who lost her footing and tripped. Suddenly Hoka was above her, stone fists in a hammer position above her head.

Sakura was replaced by a log, which Hoka splintered with ease, his hands continuing and tearing through the dirt.

"Suiton: Mizurappa!" Sakura fired a blast of water forwards, though it did little against Hoka's dirt skin.

"Sakura!" Sasuke shouted, "Use your seal!"

"Seal: Release!" Sakura grunted and the diamond on her forehead began to spread around, leaving pink tracks around her body. She appeared before Hoka and slammed a fist into his gut, causing him to double over, clutching where she hit him and taking a couple steps back.

She clanged her gauntlets together and then pulled an arm back, rushing forwards and flashing behind Hoka, slamming her fist into his back and sending him flying forwards.

"Doton: Multi Earth Wall!" Sakura slammed her hands onto the ground, creating a series of walls around Hoka.

"I'm not going down that easy!" Hoka shouted, his rage causing chakra to visibly leak off of him and shatter the walls, "Doton: Giant Bowl!" A large bowl of polished stone appeared around Sakura, who was taken off guard. "Suiton: Crashing Waves!" From his hands came torrents of water, filling the bowl up, "Doton: Slab!" Hoka then covered the bowl, "Flooding Bowl!" He shouted, firing off a small stone towards the bowl's center. As the stone flew it began to pull in the stones, eventually causing the entire bowl to condense into the stone, which fell casually to the ground.

"SAKURA!" Sasuke shouted.

"I'm fine." Sakura huffed from behind Hoka, she had somehow gotten out of the bowl, though the damage was clear, her gi was torn and her forehead was split, dripping blood onto her face.

Hoka grinned widely, "I think I like you!" he shouted at Sakura, "You give me good fights!" He appeared in front of Sakura and swung a punch towards her face.

With a flash Sakura dodged and slammed her leg into Hoka's face, knocking him away. "Doton: Earth Spike!" She shouted, slamming her hands onto the ground and causing spikes to pop from the ground and impale Hoka through the shoulders.

"It's over!" Sakura jumped above Hoka and slammed her fist down on his back, creating a crater beneath them.

" **Amazingly it seems as if Hoka has been defeated! Team Jolt please choose your next competitor!"**

Naji, the girl with silver hair wearing olden style armor, stepped onto the arena and glared at Sakura, "You're a strong one, but I won't lose to you. Suiton: Water Gun!" She fired off several blasts of water towards Sakura, who weaved in and out of them with ease due to the boost her Strength of a Hundred Seal gave her.

"Raiton: Thunder Ball!" Naji slammed her hands together and fired off several balls of electricity that Sakura dodged, beginning to move forwards.

Naji growled and flew through hand seals, "Suiton: Electric Eel!" She shouted, creating a stream of water that slithered like a snake and applying lightning to it. It rapidly bit at Sakura's progressing form, leaving large craters wherever it hit. The speed it moved was incredible, forcing Sakura to stray from her path to avoid most of the hits. "BINDING EEL!" Naji shouted, the whip growing three times in length and circling Sakura, crushing down on her with incredible force.

"AHHH!" She screamed, trying, and failing, to force the construct off of herself. Suddenly Sakura stopped struggling and fell limp for a few seconds before chakra exploded off of her, splashing the eel across the arena and creating a large dust cloud.

In the cloud all that was visible was a pink shimmer, "Sage Mode mixed with Lady Tsunade's Strength of a Hundred Seal is a potent mix." Sakura's voice rang out, "Unfortunately can only handle it for a few minutes at a time." The dust cleared revealing the Slug Sage markings in an ethereal blue mixed with the lines from the release of the Strength of a Hundred Seal. In a blink Naji was slammed against the barrier that protected the audience, shattering it.

" **It seems like Naji has been defeated. Gar will be stepping onto the arena as Team Jolt's last member!"**

Gar stepped up, his lightning aura activating instantly. "I hope this is fun." In a flash, there was a boom, the barriers flaring up and creating a blinding light. Sakura and Gar's fists met mid arena, Gar's Sixth Sense having activated, his eyes turning blue and the lightning focussing to his hands. He managed to hold Sakura for nearly a second before her immense strength threw him back, where he clapped his hands and send out a ring of lightning.

Sakura roared, letting loose raw chakra and cancelling out Gar's lightning jutsu. She blitzed forwards, her fist missing Gar by inches as he tilted his head slightly.

"First Touch: Crackle" Gar said, his fingers brushing Sakura,s shoulder. "Second Touch: Spark" He used his other hand to touch Sakura again, a small spark connecting them. "Third Touch: Stun" He palmed Sakura's back pushing her forwards with a large burst of electricity. She stumbled forwards, her Sage Mode somehow turning off, though her Strength of a Hundred Seal remained active.

"Fourth Touch: Shock" He ran towards Sakura, punching her as hard as he could, a large bolt of lightning following his fist. Sakura managed to catch the punch and throw Gar over he shoulder however, following through with a powerful punch into his chest, shattering his ribs and the ground beneath him. Sakura reared her fist back for another punch, but when it landed on Gar's face she fell unconscious, the stress of Sage mode and the Strength of a Hundred seal at once too much strain for her to handle any longer.

" **Sakura Haruno has lost consciousness! Gar is the victor! Sasuke Uchiha is the last member of Team Sage present so he will step onto the podium!**

Sasuke stepped up and the announcer started the match.

"You can't beat me. I've seen you fight now." Sasuke said, drawing his katana. Large black wings suddenly sprouted from his back and a red jewel formed on his forehead.

Gar slammed a fist into Sasuke's stomach, only to be engulfed in feathers.

"Katon: Grand Fireball!" Sasuke shouted from the other side of the arena. Flames erupted from his mouth, igniting the feathers that covered Gar. "Raiton: False Darkness!" Sasuke raised a hand and a spear of electricity sprung forth, piercing Gar's shoulder and spraying blood all over. "Chidori!" Sasuke appeared in front of Gar -who was still covered in flaming feathers- and stabbed his lightning covered hand through the man's other shoulder before backing off.

Lightning exploded from around Gar as the man screamed. Both his arms hung loosely at his side as blood pooled from his shoulders.

"I'm a lot faster than Sakura." Sasuke said, drawing his katana, "That's the only way to beat your Sixth Sense isn't it?" Sasuke asked, "Be so fast that you can't hit me."

Gar inhaled, "Raiton: Lightning ROAR!" he screamed, a blast of electricity akin to a Kamehameha blasted Sasuke.

When the dust cleared Sasuke was on his knees, wings and jewel gone and his gi ripped to shreds. Gar had fallen over and passed out.

 **SASUKE UCHIHA IS THE WINNER! TEAM SAGE MOVES ONTO THE FINALS AGAINST TEAM B!**

* * *

 _Oh man it's been a year. Believe it or not that's how long it's taken me to write this chapter despite the fact that it's just over 3k words. I just haven't been feeling this story, and I'm very sorry about that. Anyways hopefully with my reclaimed joy of writing I'll manage to at least finish this arc before February is over, but no promises. Anyways I hope you guys have enjoyed this chapter, special thanks to my girlfriend who snooped through my stuff and made me sit down to finish this chapter so she could see Gar get his ass kicked by Sasuke lol._


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